Search Worlds Without End

Hugo and Nebula Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, August 1990. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Eighth Annual Collection (1991), edited by Gardner Dozois, and Nebula Awards 26 (1992), edited by James Morrow.

Imagine a world in which Teddy Roosevelt is elected to a third term and leads America directly into World War I.A world in which the consequent terms of the Versailles Treaty propose a much gentler reconciliation between Allied and Central powers. A world in which neither World War II-nor the Holocaust-ever occurs, though European skirmishes abound. It's into this world, present millennium, where Martin Gidron has placed both Janusz, who's fled Poland to avoid a Russian draft, and his lover Irena, daughter of a famous composer. When Irena travels to Greece for her father's funeral, things start unravelling for Janusz: people and business establishments having Jewish connections disappear, literally without a trace or even memory, from New York City where Janusz has illegally emigrated. Then the Jewish daily newspaper where Janusz works switches overnight from Yiddish to English. And what are these strange letters that Janusz receives at his apartment, offering a "credit card, " whatever that might be? The discovery that Janusz is cast into by the novel's end is as harrowing in its particularity as it is in its universality.

Hugo Award nominated short story. It originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October 1958. The story can also be found in the anthologies:

• The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction, Eighth Series (1959), edited by Anthony Boucher
• Voyagers in Time: Twelve Stories of Science Fiction (1967), edited by Robert Silverberg
• The Arbor House Treasury of Science Fiction Masterpieces (1983), edited by Robert Silverberg and Martin H. Greenberg
• The World Treasury of Science Fiction (1989), edited by David G. Hartwell
• One Lamp: Alternate History Stories from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (2003), edited by Gordon Van Gelder.

It is included in the collections The Dark Side of the Earth (1964), The Light Fantastic (1976) and Virtual Unrealities: The Short Fiction of Alfred Bester (1997).

May 23, 2440 A.D.

Around Jay Bruce's spaceship, the sky was an impenetrable blanket of opaque gas, typical of this region on Jupiter just north of the Red Spot. Bruce was puzzled. Why had the lovely young woman seated next to him chartered his ship to cruise an uninhabited area? Then it appeared... a massive Martian warship unlike any he'd ever seen before, forcing him to land -- and perhaps to die -- in the barren Jovian wilderness!

In the future, on the island of Ongladred, mankind has survived two enigmatic, civilization-destroying setbacks. Now a third holocaust is anticipated. The people fear destruction from invading barbarians, the reappearance of a semi-mythical sea creature, and the devious intervention of the neo-human Parfects.

This imminent disaster is very much the concern of Ingram Marley, a government spy sent to keep surveillance over Stonelore, a secluded haven and the center of free thought on Ongladred, and Gabriel Elk, Stonelore's resident genius.

While panic and fear rage outside, deep inside Stonelore the mysteries of life are pursued - reanimation of the dead, the invention of powerful laser weapons, and the secrets of "old earth" knowledge. Amidst harrowing dangers of sea battles and land invasions, Michael Bishop explores the transformation of Ingram Marley, a man caught in the middle.

Contents:

• 7 - The White Otters of Childhood - (1973) - novella
• 85 - Beneath the Shattered Moons - (1976) - novel (variant of And Strange at Ecbatan the Trees)

The depression has meant that a mission to Mars has been shelved for 20 years. But then Markham, head of Pellucida Films, cons two of the original Mars spacemen out of retirement and promises them their dream of setting foot on the Red Planet.

Written over the course of three decades, these remarkable stories showcase the breadth and power of Michael Blumlein's vision. By turns prescient, poignant, haunting, and humorous, they consistently amaze and delight. They are celebrations: of science, of love, of partnership, of difference. They are odes to the joy of discovery, inside and out.

This story originally appeared in Lightspeed Magazine: Queers Destroy Science Fiction! Special Edition, June 2015. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2016, edited by Rich Horton, The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Third Annual Collection (2016), edited by Gardner Dozois and Wilde Stories 2016: The Year's Best Gay Speculative Fiction (2016), edited by Steve Berman.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Contents:

• 1 - Introduction (The Incredible Planet) - [Mightiest Machine] - short story
• 5 - The Incredible Planet - [Mightiest Machine] - novelette
• 47 - The Interstellar Search - [Mightiest Machine] - novella
• 177 - The Infinite Atom - [Mightiest Machine] - novella

Millard Fillmore Pierce, Class 2 Arbiter, is lost. And when you're in the service of the Spiral Federation, getting found again is no easy task. The paperwork alone could take years.

But when Pierce's ship is captured by an alien dreadnought, the nightmare only gets worse: The aliens are intent on galactic conquest, and they intend to start with Pierce.

The plot gets thicker and thicker from that point on, as three of science fiction's most accomplished storytellers attempt to write each other into a corner.

"The Goophered Grapevine" was Chesnutt's first Uncle Julius story. The story introduces John, the white Northern businessman who comes South after the War to buy a plantation and grow grapes. In this story, Uncle Julius tells John and his wife Annie about how the grape vines in the area were conjured long ago by a master who wanted to stop the slaves from stealing the grapes.

This short story can be found at Atlantic Magazine archives here or in the anthology Dark Matter.

Lucy Corin's daring debut story collection leads the reader through a world where characters behave normally in the most extreme situations and bizarrely with almost no provocation at all. Unpredictable and playful, Corin brilliantly dissects time, people, places, and things, truly rendering how it feels to be human.

Table of Contents:

• Foreword - essay by Michael Kurland
• Introduction - essay by Randall Garrett
• Sacheverell - (1964) - short story
• The Lord of Central Park - (1970) - novelette
• The Grantha Sighting - (1958) - short story
• The Singular Events.... - (1962) - short story
• Dagon - (1959) - short story
• I Weep, I Cry, I Glorify - novelette
• The 13th Brumaire - short story
• Lemuria Revisited - novelette
• In Which the Lodge Is Tiled - short story
• Partial Comfort - novelette
• Afterword for The Redward Edward Papers - essay
• Afterword to Entire Book - essay

Nelson used to be a radical journalist, but now he works for Monad, one of the world's leading corporations. Monad make the Dr Easys, the androids which patrol London's streets: assisting police, easing tensions, calming the populace. But Monad also makes the Red Men - tireless, intelligent, creative and entirely virtual corporate workers - and it's looking to expand the programme. So Nelson is put in charge of Redtown: a virtual city, inhabited by copies of real people going about their daily business, in which new policies, diseases and disasters can be studied in perfect simulation. Nelson finds himself at the helm of a grand project whose goals appear increasingly authoritarian and potentially catastrophic. As the boundaries between Redtown and the real world become ever more brittle, and revolutionary factions begin to align themselves against the Red Men, Nelson finds himself forced to choose sides: Monad or his family, the corporation or the community, the real or the virtual.

'The Red Men' is at heart a novel about a character wrestling with his conscience, set against a pervasive and Orwellian vision of contemporary society: surveillance, automation, biotechnology, and their implications for our humanity.

Installing a network for the Church of Accelerated Redemption is just another crappy job in a series of crappy jobs for Lisa, an American engineer stuck doing menial work in Paris. That the Church uses artificial intelligences to power its never-ending prayer machines doesn't interest her at all: they're paying, and she needs enough money to survive in an increasingly crumbling world. Until a demonstration outside the Church's headquarters, and the appearance of Stéphane, an enigmatic man Lisa finds herself powerfully drawn to. What lies beneath his headscarf, why is he so interested in the Church--and how far will she be willing to go in order to earn his trust?

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Shine: An Anthology of Optimistic Science-Fiction (2010), edited by Jetse de Vries.

JF Dubeau's debut novel, The Life Engineered begins in the year 3594, where humanity is little more than a memory--a legend of the distant past destined to reappear. Capeks, a race of artificial creatures originally created by humans, have inherited the galaxy and formed a utopian civilization built on the shared goal of tirelessly working to prepare for their makers' return.

One moment a cop dying in the line of duty in Boston, the next "reborn" as a Capek, Dagir must find her place in this intricate society. That vaguely remembered "death" was but the last of hundreds of simulated lives, distilling her current personality. A robot built for rescue and repair, she finds her abilities tested immediately after her awakening when the large, sentient facility that created her is destroyed, marking the only instance of murder the peaceful Capeks have ever known. For the first time in their history, conflicting philosophies clash, setting off a violent civil war that could lay waste to the stars themselves.

Dagir sets off on a quest to find the killers, and finds much more than she sought. As the layers of the Capeks' past peel away to reveal their early origins, centuries-old truths come to light. And the resulting revelations may tear humanity's children apart--and destroy all remnants of humankind

Cross frontiers of fear into chill realms of terror

Strange and terrible experiences await you in this book. A mis-spawned, murderous abomination lurking in its shuttered prison, waiting for its chance to escape... a man's mind wrenched through aeons of time and imprisoned in an alien body... a "window" that looks out across the dimensions onto scenes of grotesque monstrosities about to break through into our world...an occult experimenter trying to acheove reptilian longevity - and horribly succeeding: these and more stories from th eouter limits of horror are here. Each one will transport you into icy territories of unimaginable fear...

H. P. LOVECRAFT
the century's greatest master of supernatural terror, left several stories unfinished at his untimely death. August Derleth, his friend and fellow writer, skillfully completed them. The stories in this volume are the result of this unique collaberation.

Contains:

• The Survivor
• Wentworth's Day
• The Peabody Heritage
• The Gable Window
• The Ancestor
• The Shadow Out of Space
• The Lamp of Alhazred
• The Fisherman of Falcon Point
• The Dark Brotherhood
• The Shuttered Room

'The Masque of the Red Death' tracks an uber-wealthy survivalist and his followers as they hole up and attempt to ride out the collapse of society.

This novelette originally appeared in the collection Radicalized (2019).

A monk belonging to a sysadmin order tracks "An Anomaly" in the real world.

This novelette originally appeared on Tor.com, August 6, 2008. It can also be found in the anthologies Year's Best SF 14 (2009), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, and Brave New Worlds: Dystopian Stories (2011), edited by John Joseph Adams. The story is included in the collection With a Little Help (2009).

Read the full story for free at Tor.com.

To save a galactic kingdom from revolution, Kindred mind-pairings were created to ensure each and every person would be seen and heard, no matter how rich or poor...

Joy Abara knows her place. A commoner from the lowly planet Hali, she lives a simple life--apart from the notoriety that being Kindred to the nobility's most infamous playboy brings.

Duke Felix Hamdi has a plan. He will exasperate his noble family to the point that they agree to let him choose his own future and finally meet his Kindred face-to-face.

Then the royal family is assassinated, putting Felix next in line for the throne... and accused of the murders. Someone will stop at nothing until he's dead, which means they'll target Joy, too. Meeting in person for the first time as they steal a spacecraft and flee amid chaos might not be ideal... and neither is crash-landing on the strange backward planet called Earth. But hiding might just be the perfect way to discover the true strength of the Kindred bond and expose a scandal--and a love--that may decide the future of a galaxy.

This novelette originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, July-August 2013, and was reprinted in Lightspeed, May 2016.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Mythmakers and world builders of the first order, the Eddingses spin tales that make imaginations soar. Readers have thrilled to The Belgariad and The Malloreon, magic-filled masterworks chronicling the timeless conflict between good and evil. But with those sagas brought to their triumphant conclusions, fans were left hungry for more. Now at last the wait is over. With The Redemption of Althalus, the Eddingses have created their first-ever stand-alone epic fantasy...

It would be sheer folly to try to conceal the true nature of Althalus, for his flaws are the stuff of legend. He is, as all men know, a thief, a liar, an occasional murderer, an outrageous braggart, and a man devoid of even the slightest hint of honor.

Yet of all the men in the world, it is Althalus, unrepentant rogue and scoundrel, who will become the champion of humanity in its desperate struggle against the forces of an ancient god determined to return the universe to nothingness. On his way to steal The Book from the House at the End of the World, Althalus is confronted by a cat--a cat with eyes like emeralds, the voice of a woman, and the powers of a goddess.

She is Dweia, sister to The Gods and a greater thief even than Althalus. She must be: for in no time at all, she has stolen his heart. And more. She has stolen time itself. For when Althalus leaves the House at the End of the World, much wiser but not a day older than when he'd first entered it, thousands of years have gone by.

But Dweia is not the only one able to manipulate time. Her evil brother shares the power, and while Dweia has been teaching Althalus the secrets of The Book, the ancient God has been using the dark magic of his own Book to rewrite history. Yet all is not lost. But only if Althalus, still a thief at heart, can bring together a ragtag group of men, women, and children with no reason to trust him or each other.

Boldly written and brilliantly imagined, The Redemption of Althalus is an epic fantasy to be savored in the reading and returned to again and again for the wisdom, excitement, and humor that only the Eddingses can provide.

This short story originally appeared in Interzone, #222 June 2009. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 15 (2010), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer.

Sturgeon- and Locus-Award nominated novella

Camille is desperate to escape her home on colonized asteroid Vesta, journeying through space in a small cocoon pod covertly and precariously attached to a cargo ship. Anna is a newly appointed port director on asteroid Ceres, intrigued by the causes that have led so-called riders like Camille to show up at her post in search of asylum.

Conditions on Vesta are quickly deteriorating -- for one group of people in particular. The original founders agreed to split profits equally, but the Sivadier syndicate contributed intellectual property rather than more valued tangible goods. Now the rest of the populace wants payback. As Camille travels closer to Ceres, it seems ever more likely that Vesta will demand the other asteroid stop harboring its fugitives.

With "The Four Thousand, the Eight Hundred," acclaimed author Greg Egan offers up a stellar, novella-length example of hard science fiction, as human and involving as it is insightful and philosophical.

Moscoe Does Not Believe in Fears

When superstar TV journalist Lech Hammond heard rumors that the Martian Soviets had uncovered an alien artifact, he shipped out to Mars to investigate. But the KGB had the discovery under wraps, and with a serial killer on the loose and wild men rampaging near their secret base, they had closed ranks tighter than ever.

Hammond and his news crew were determined to break the story to the people of Earth. They never suspected that death stalked them and madness awaited them - or that, in a horrible way, the story had already been broken...

On the eve of World War II, a wandering magician comes to a small Hungarian village prophesying death and destruction. Eleven-year-old Kicsi believes Vörös, and attempts to aid him in protecting the village.

But the local rabbi, who possesses magical powers, insists that the village is safe, and frustrates Vörös's attempts to transport them all to safety. Then the Nazis come and the world changes.

Miraculously, Kicsi survives the horrors of the concentration camp and returns to her village to witness the final climactic battle between the rabbi and the Red Magician, the Old World and the New.

The Red Magician is a notable work of Holocaust literature and a distinguished work of fiction, as well as a marvelously entertaining fantasy that is, in the end, wise and transcendent.

1768. Charlotte, daughter of the Habsburg Empress, arrives in Naples to marry a man she has never met. Her sister Antoine is sent to France, and in the mirrored corridors of Versailles they rename her Marie Antoinette.

The sisters are alone, but they are not powerless. When they were only children, they discovered a book of spells -- spells that work, with dark and unpredictable consequences.

In a time of vicious court politics, of discovery and dizzying change, they use the book to take control of their lives.

But every spell requires a sacrifice. And as love between the sisters turns to rivalry, they will send Europe spiralling into revolution.

Brimming with romance, betrayal, and enchantment, The Embroidered Book reimagines a dazzling period of history as you have never seen it before.

This short story originally appeared on Strange Horizons, 5 July 2010, and again on 16 January 2017. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2011, edited by Rich Horton.

Read the full story for free at Strange Horizons.

WFA nominated novella. It originally appeared in the anthology Love in Vein II: Eighteen More Tales of Vampiric Erotica (1997), edited by Poppy Z. Brite. The story is included in the collection Falling Idols (1998).

In exquisite prose, Hoffman offers a transforming glimpse of small-town America, presenting more than three hundred years of passion, dark secrets, loyalty, and redemption in a web of tales where characters' lives are intertwined by fate and by their own actions.

The Red Garden introduces us to the luminous and haunting world of Blackwell, Massachusetts, capturing the unexpected turns in its history and in our own lives. From the town's founder, a brave young woman from England who has no fear of blizzards or bears, to the young man who runs away to New York City with only his dog for company, the characters in The Red Garden are extraordinary and vivid: a young wounded Civil War soldier who is saved by a passionate neighbor, a woman who meets a fiercely human historical character, a poet who falls in love with a blind man, a mysterious traveler who comes to town in the year when summer never arrives.

At the center of everyone's life is a mysterious garden where only red plants can grow, and where the truth can be found by those who dare to look.

Beautifully crafted and shimmering with magic, The Red Garden is as unforgettable as it is moving.

The Empire has declared war on the small, were-ruled kingdom of Aydori, capturing five women of the Mage-Pack, including the wife of the were Pack-leader. With the Pack off defending the border, it falls to Mirian Maylin and Tomas Hagen--she a low-level mage, he younger brother to the Pack-leader--to save them. Together the two set out on the kidnappers' trail, racing into the heart of enemy territory. With every step the odds against them surviving and succeeding soar...

This shot story originally appeared on the autor's Patreon site in July 2016, and was reprinted in Uncanny Magazine, Issue 15, March-April 2017.

Read the full story for free at Uncanny Magazine.

In the spring of 1912, American writer Arthur Pearce is reeling from the wounds inflicted by a disastrous marriage and the public humiliation that ensued.

But his plans to travel abroad, write a new novel, and forget his ex-wife are interrupted by a lovely young woman he encounters on a London-bound train. Her name is Sarah Coyle, and the tale she tells him chills his blood.

According to Sarah, her younger sister Violet has been entranced by a local count, a man whose attractiveness and charisma are rivaled only by his shady reputation. Whispers of bizarre religious rites and experimental medicine surround Count Richard Dunning, though no wrongdoing has ever been proven. Sarah's family views the Count as a philanthropist and a perfect match for young Violet, but Sarah believes her sister is soon to become a subject in Count Dunning's hideous ceremonies.

Smitten by Sarah and moved to gallantry by her plight, Arthur agrees to travel to Altarbrook, Sarah's rural ancestral home, in order to prevent Violet from falling into ruin. He soon learns, however, that his meeting with Sarah on the train was no accident. And his arrival at Altarbrook represents a crucial but ghastly step in the Count's monstrous plot.

Village couples seek approval for marriage from a stag with golden rings adorning its horns. That is until one suitor, determined to convince a woman to fall in love with him, makes a rash decision.

Read the full story for free at Tor Reactor.

The shining pillar was nine or ten feet high and about a foot across. The top of it was flattened and rounded out. It was like a great golden pin thrust into the center of a shell. Within, Tom Blake saw a globe of reddish-gold that was neither solid nor gas. It began to move up and down the golden spike. At times, it flattened itself into a disc, or took the shape of a cylinder, or even a cone; then it became a globe again, and he wondered why it didn't tear itself loose from the spike that held it.

The Red King was a living core of light with a reddish halo. From this distance, it seemed little more than a cloud. When the cloud moved and changed its shape, a nucleus of reddish gold moved and changed with it.

They said that if your mind could contact the mind of this sleeping being they called the Red King, your dreams would come true, your wishes be granted. The Red King slept, but one day he would awake, and die--and those who could not contact him, and hated the minority who could, said that when he awoke, all the stuff of his dreams would vanish.

But what was this world? And what was Tom Blake doing here?

He and Flo DeLee had been out in the quadrangle at Squantley College that night, the night Tom was about to propose and give her the ring with the tiny diamonds that he had saved for for so long. Flo told him of a dream she had had, about a Red King who granted wishes...

Tom laughed, but he didn't laugh long. Three bell-like notes sounded, and a bubble seemed to come down from the tower of the college. It absorbed Flo and she was gone. And when Tom ran after her, another bubble captured him.

Tom found himself in a strange world where a bewildering variety of people, some of them Earthmen or the descendants of Earthmen, lived in a medieval-like civilization, and plotted against a minority who were able to contact the Red King and obtain their hearts' desire. They rode giant cats, instead of horses, and many things were strange-yet, so much was familiar. Tom was captured by Gathun of the Tiger Heart, Grand Marshal of the Marches and leader of the enemies of Eldon, the realm of those who could talk to the Red King. Every newcomer to his world was to be brought before the Red King, to see if contact could be made.

What chance did these semi-barbarians among whom Blake had fallen have against the super-science of Tulp and the folk of Eldon? And why did they hate the people of Eldon, when Tulp was not only willing but eager to share all the benefits he had obtained from the Red King with the entire world?

Aided only by a trained bear and a monkey, a magician and an acrobat challenge the power of the evil Red King who rules the Forest Lands by spreading the red fever to those who refuse to pay him tribute.

Akbar Manzil was once a grand estate off the coast of South Africa. Nearly a century later, it stands in ruins: an isolated boardinghouse for eclectic misfits, seeking solely to disappear into the mansion's dark corridors. Except for Sana. Unlike the others, she is curious and questioning and finds herself irresistibly drawn to the history of the mansion: To the eerie and forgotten East Wing, home to a clutter of broken and abandoned objects--and to the door at its end, locked for decades.

Behind the door is a bedroom frozen in time and a worn diary that whispers of a dark past: the long-forgotten story of a young woman named Meena, who died there tragically a hundred years ago. Watching Sana from the room's shadows is a besotted, grieving djinn, an invisible spirit who has haunted the mansion since her mysterious death. Obsessed with Meena's story, and unaware of the creature that follows her, Sana digs into the past like fingers into a wound, dredging up old and terrible secrets that will change the lives of everyone living and dead at Akbar Manzil. Sublime, heart-wrenching, and lyrically stunning, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is a haunting, a love story, and a mystery, all twined beautifully into one young girl's search for belonging.

Sarah Crowe left Atlanta, and the remnants of a tumultuous relationship, to live alone in an old house in rural Rhode Island. Within its walls she discovers an unfinished manuscript written by the house's former tenant-a parapsychologist obsessed with the ancient oak growing on a desolate corner of the property. And as the gnarled tree takes root in her imagination, Sarah risks her health and her sanity to unearth a revelation planted centuries ago...

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Clockwork Phoenix 2: More Tales of Beauty and Strangeness (2009), edited by Mike Allen. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2010, edited by Rich Horton.

Listen to or read the full story for free at Escape Pod.

Ester's family was torn apart when a manticore killed her mother and baby brother, leaving her with nothing but her father's painful silence and a single, overwhelming need to kill the monsters that took her family.

Ester's path leads her to the King's Royal Mews, where the giant rocs of legend are flown to hunt manticores by their brave and dedicated ruhkers. Paired with a fledgling roc named Zahra, Ester finds purpose and acclaim by devoting herself to a calling that demands absolute sacrifice and a creature that will never return her love. The terrifying partnership between woman and roc leads Ester not only on the empire's most dangerous manticore hunt, but on a journey of perseverance and acceptance.

Winner of the 1996 Stoker award for Superior Achievement in Long Fiction, nominated for the 1997 BFA Best Short Fiction award.

This short story originally appeared in the collection The Nightmare Factory (1996). It has been subsequently republished several times.

The Rediscovery of Man: The Complete Short Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smithis the second book in the "NESFA's Choice" series. It brings back into print all of the short science fiction of Cordwainer Smith, and includes two never before published stories.

The Rediscovery of Man includes all of Smith's short science fiction, including:

• "Scanners Live in Vain"
• "The Ballad of Lost C'mell"
• "The Dead Lady of Clown Town"
• "The Game of Rat and Dragon"
• "On the Storm Planet"

It also includes an in-depth introduction to the works of Cordwainer Smith by John J. Pierce, a noted authority on Smith's work.

Contents:

• Introduction by John J. Pierce
• Editor's Introduction by Jim Mann

Stories of the Instrumentality of Mankind:

• No, No, Not Rogov! (1959)
• War No. 81-Q (rewritten version)
• Mark Elf (1957)
• The Queen of the Afternoon (1978)
• Letter to Editor, Fantasy Book (March 9, 1948)
• Scanners Live in Vain (1950)
• The Lady Who Sailed The Soul (1960)
• When the People Fell (1959)
• Think Blue, Count Two (1963)
• The Colonel Came Back from the Nothing-at-All (1979)
• The Game of Rat and Dragon (1955)
• The Burning of the Brain (1958)
• From Gustible's Planet (1962)
• Himself in Anachron (1993)
• The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal (1964)
• Golden the Ship Was - Oh! Oh! Oh! (1959)
• The Dead Lady of Clown Town (1964)
• Under Old Earth (1966)
• Drunkboat (1963)
• Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons (1961)
• Alpha Ralpha Boulevard (1961)
• The Ballad of Lost C'Mell (1962)
• A Planet Named Shayol (1961)
• On the Gem Planet (1963)
• On the Storm Planet (1965)
• On the Sand Planet (1965)
• Three to a Given Star (1965)
• Down to a Sunless Sea (1975)

Other Stories:

• War No. 81-Q (1928)
• Western Science Is So Wonderful (1958)
• Nancy (1959)
• The Fife of Bodidharma (1959)
• Angerhelm (1959)
• The Good Friends (1963)

Bob Jones is ordinary, from his appearance right down to his very name. No one seems to take notice of him, not his co-workers, his girlfriend, or even his own parents. But Bob learns he's not alone when he's taken in by a band of people that suffer similarly.

Calling themselves "The Ignored", the deadly vengeance they intend to wreak is sure to make them more than just memorable...

Steven Erikson has carved a name for himself among the pantheon of great fantasy writers. But his masterful storytelling and prose style go beyond the awe-inspiring Malazan world. In The Devil Delivered and Other Tales, Erikson tells three different, but captivating stories:

"The Devil Delivered" tells a story set within the near future, where the land owned by the great Lakota Nation blisters beneath an ozone hole the size of the Great Plains. As the natural world falls victim to its wrath, and scientists scramble to understand it, a lone anthropologist wanders the deadlands, recording observations that threaten to bring the entire world to its knees.

"Revolvo" takes place in an alternate Earth where evolution took an interesting turn and the arts scene is ruled by technocrats who thrive in a secret, nepotistic society of granting agencies, bursaries, and peer-review boards, all designed to permit self-proclaimed artists to survive without an audience.

"Fishin' with Grandma Matchie" is told in the voice a nine-year-old boy, writing the story of his summer vacation. What starts as a typical recount of a trip to see Grandma quickly becomes a stunning fantastical journey into imagination and perception in the wild world that Grandma Matchie inhabits.

WFA nominated novelette. It originally appeared as a chapbook. The story can also be found in the anthology Masterpieces of Fantasy and Enchantment (1988), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. It is included in the collection Tales from a Vanished Country (1990).

This short story originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, September 2013, and was reprinted in Clarkesworld, #126, March 2017. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2014, edited by Rich Horton, and The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-First Annual Collection (2014), edited by Gardner Dozois. The story is included in the collection Frost on Glass (2015).

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

Locus and Strugeon Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, September 2016. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume 2 (2017), edited by Neil Clarke, The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Eleven (2017), edited by Jonathan Strahan, The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Fourth Annual Collection (2017), edited by Gardner Dozois, and The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2017, edited by Rich Horton.

Dartmoor, with its mists, bleak winter weather and overwhelming sense of isolation, is the perfect place to build a prison. It's not a place many would choose to live - yet the Governor of Dartmoor Prison did just that. When Herbert Russell retired, he bought All Hallow's Hall - a rambling Tudor mansion on the edge of the moor, and lived there all his life.

Now he's dead, and his estranged family are set to inherit his estate. But when the dead man's family come to stay, the atmosphere of the moors seems to drift into every room. Floorboards creak, secret passageways echo, and wind whistles in the house's famous priest hole. And then, on the morning the family decide to leave All Hallow's Hall once and for all, their young son Timmy goes missing.

This is the story of women becoming inexplicably pregnant. And it happens to every type of woman, regardless of race or creed, from nuns to lesbians.

It happened to Beauford Abel's wife. With her, a perfume tester called; one of his more exotic samples made her black out for a split second. At least, she thought it was a split second...

When Beauford eventually figures out what's going on, he plays amateur sleuth. But instead of finding sex maniacs, he finds brainy apes planning to invade the earth. And the brainy apes are clever enough to ask Beauford to handle their PR. They'd like to be liked when they land. And they'd like the baby apes that earth women will soon be giving birth to, to be liked as well.

You might think this is a pretty funny way for invaders to act. In this book, everything's funny.

The first book of the multiverse.

Dorian Hawkmoon... Corum Jhaelen Irsei... Elric of Melniboné. Over the years, Michael Moorcock has captivated readers with his unending versions of the Eternal Champion, the timeless warrior who serves the Cosmic Balance in the ongoing battle that rages between Law and Chaos through the many planes and levels of the multiverse. But what is the multiverse and what are its origins? In this essential novel, Michael Moorcock provides readers these critical answers.

World War Three has come and gone, and humankind has survived its brutal past to assume its place among the stars. Yet their existence is endangered nonetheless, as their entire universe is threatening to collapse. All their hopes rest on the shoulders of Count Renark von Bek, a nobleman of extraordinary psychic abilities and carefully guarded secrets.

Aided by his companions, von Bek will delve into the Sundered Worlds, a mysterious galaxy outside the space-time continuum that has materialized on the edges of known space. Inside this roving galaxy, they will uncover the secrets of the multiverse and embark upon a last desperate gamble to save humankind.

But as they will soon discover, even survival comes laden with danger, as the solutions to their dilemma may also hold the final keys to their destruction...

Alternate title: The Blood Red Game

WFA nominated novelette.

The Hundred-Year Christmas is the story of poignant friendship between Father Christmas, who lives a hundred years before being replaced, and Father Time, who lives only a single year before being replaced. Each year, Santa sees a version of his friend grow old and die. Now it's Santa's turn, but he's having trouble finding a replacement, and if he doesn't succeed, there'll be no one to take care of the infant Father Time. Time itself will stop.

Nebula and Sturgeon Award nominated short story. It was originally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, November 2004. No other publications are known at this time.

One million years of evolution didn't change our nature. Nor did it bury the horrors predating civilisation. Ancient rites, old deities and savage ways can reappear in the places you least expect.

Lifestyle journalist Katrine escaped past traumas by moving to a coast renowned for seaside holidays and natural beauty. But when a vast hoard of human remains and prehistoric artefacts is discovered in nearby Brickburgh, a hideous shadow engulfs her life.

Helene, a disillusioned lone parent, lost her brother, Lincoln, six years ago. Disturbing subterranean noises he recorded prior to vanishing, draw her to Brickburgh's caves. A site where early humans butchered each other across sixty thousand years. Upon the walls, images of their nameless gods remain.

Amidst rumours of drug plantations and new sightings of the mythical red folk, it also appears that the inquisitive have been disappearing from this remote part of the world for years. A rural idyll where outsiders are unwelcome and where an infernal power is believed to linger beneath the earth. A timeless supernormal influence that only the desperate would dream of confronting. But to save themselves and those they love, and to thwart a crimson tide of pitiless barbarity, Kat and Helene are given no choice. They were involved and condemned before they knew it.

For 13-year-old Ronnie Day, life is full of problems: Mom and Dad have separated, his brother Tim is a constant pest, Melanie Ward either loves him or hates him, and Jesus Christ won't stay in his heart. Plus he has to walk past the red church every day, where the Bell Monster hides with its wings and claws and livers for eyes. But the biggest problem is that Archer McFall is the new preacher at the church, and Mom wants Ronnie to attend midnight services with her.

Sheriff Frank Littlefield hates the red church for a different reason. His little brother died in a freak accident at the church twenty years ago, and now Frank is starting to see his brother's ghost. And the ghost keeps demanding, "Free me." People are dying in Whispering Pines, and the murders coincide with McFall's return.

The Days, the Littlefields, and the McFalls are descendants of the original families that settled the rural Appalachian community. Those old families share a secret of betrayal and guilt, and McFall wants his congregation to prove its faith. Because he believes he is the Second Son of God, and that the cleansing of sin must be done in blood.

What would guilt make you do?

Hadleigh Keene died on the road leading away from Hollyhock Asylum. The reasons are unknown. Her sister Morgan blames herself. A year later with the case still unsolved, Morgan creates a false identity, that of a troubled housewife named Charlotte Turner, and goes inside.

Morgan quickly discovers that Hollyhock is... not right. She is shaken by the hospital's peculiar routines and is soon beset by strange episodes. All the while, the persona of Charlotte takes on a life of its own, becoming stronger with each passing day. As her identity begins unraveling, Morgan finds herself tracing Hadleigh's footsteps and peering into the places they lead.

The world's first Zen Buddhist paranormal romance published to coincide with Halloween

One of the most progressive writers at work today, Victor Pelevin's comic inventiveness has won him comparisons to Kafka, Calvino, and Gogol, and Time has described him as a 'psychedelic Nabokov for the cyberage.' In The Sacred Book of the Werewolf, a smash success in Russia and Pelevin's first novel in six years, paranormal meets transcendental with a splash of satire as A Hu-Li, a two-thousand-year-old shape-shifting werefox from ancient China meets her match in Alexander, a Wagner-addicted werewolf who's the key figure in Russia's Big Oil. Both a supernatural love story and an outrageously funny send-up of modern Russia, this stunning and ingenious work of the imagination is the sharpest novel to date from Russia's most gifted literary malcontent.

The King was bored. For five hundred years he had been King of the country of Myth and Shadow, and he was a good king, if a slightly bewildered one.

Read the full story for free at Tor Reactor.

Vanishings and aparitions, nightmares and twists of fate, mysterious ailments and supernatural interventions haunt these stories by the Russian master Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, heir to the spellbinding tradition of Gogol and Poe. Blending the miraculous with the macabre, and leavened by a mischievous gallows humor, these bewitching tales are like nothing being written in Russia--or anywhere else in the world--today.

The Masque of The Red Death is set in 12th century Italy, where Prince Prospero, a devout worshiper of Satan, rules tyrannically in a land stricken by a mysterious plague. Prospero's cruel whims include toying with the fear-stricken peasants under his domain, in order to satisfy his own diabolical pleasures. Deliverance... or Doom?

"The day of deliverance is at hand." That was the prophecy of the mysterious man cloaked in red. But the villagers had little time for rejoicing. For a few scant hours later, the people were dying of that grimmest of all plagues-the Red Death! And within the castle that ruled this desolated land, even eerier events were happening... as the purity of the lovely Francesca battled the evil of Prospero... and unearthly forces gathered for a mad, grim masquerade!

Focusing on novels written in English since the end of World War II, Pringle's selection is controversial, as any selection must be, but it is also a valuable guide to good reading in a field that is wider than it first appears to be. Pringle's informative comments on each title will help the reader select those titles that will be of immediate interest.

The book is comprised of a series of 100 essays, covering the years 1946 to 1987 and in order of publication, without any ranking. Although somewhat focused on works from the British Isles, it is considered an important critical summary of the science fiction field.

Pringle says of the book:

While covering no foreign-language fantasies and few children's or 'light' fantasies, "I have tried to make a balanced list, and in so doing I have included some books which are not really to my taste--they may well be other people's favourites, though. In truth, there are not a hundred masterpieces of modern fantasy, any more than there a hundred masterpieces of science fiction." "At least some of the novels I have selected are masterpieces of modern literature, full of beauty and wonder. The others are craftsmanlike entertainments which I happily commend to you for your enjoyment."

The books and authors covered in this volume are the basis for our Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels list.

It's not safe for anyone alone in the woods. But the woman in the red jacket has no choice. Not since the Crisis came, decimated the population, and sent those who survived fleeing into quarantine camps that serve as breeding grounds for death, destruction, and disease. She is just a woman trying not to get killed in a world that was perfectly sane and normal until three months ago.

There are worse threats in the woods than the things that stalk their prey at night. Men with dark desires, weak wills, and evil intents. Men in uniform with classified information, deadly secrets, and unforgiving orders. And sometimes, just sometimes, there's something worse than all of the horrible people and vicious beasts combined.

Red doesn't like to think of herself as a killer, but she isn't about to let herself get eaten up just because she is a woman alone in the woods...

Hugo Award nominated short story. It originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, March 1993. The story can also be found in the anthologis Alternate Warriors (1993), edited by Mike Resnick and The Year's Best Science Fiction: Eleventh Annual Collection (1994). It is included in the collections An Alien Land (1998), New Dreams for Old (2005) and Win Some, Lose Some: The Hugo Award Winning (and Nominated) Short Science Fiction and Fantasy of Mike Resnick (2012).

BSFA and WFA winning and Nebula Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in Interzone, #7 Spring 1984. The story can also be found in the collection Unconquered Countries: Four Novellas (1994).

The novella was later published as the novel The Unconquered Country (1986). The revisions are reported to be very minor.

When the Neighbors invade and Sharks attacking from the skies kill her family, Third Child must find her own way through a rapidly changing world.

Slightly expanded from the novella of the same title. A rough word count of each shows less than 500 words difference. Technically, this is the same as the novella, as there is too little difference to be considered a new work. However, it did win awards as a novel.

This short story originally appeared in Lightspeed: People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction! Special Issue, June 2016. It is included in the collection Tender: Stories (2017).

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Sidewise Award winning and Hugo, Nebula and Sturgeon Award nominated short story.

Alternate history story of William Shakespeare. While drunk in Portsmouth after putting on a show, Shakespeare becomes a stowaway on the wrong boat back to London -- and instead winds up in America, where he is eventually captured by Native Americans. The story's narrator, a sixteenth-century Cherokee, tells how his tribe adopted an English colonist named Spear-Shaker, and describes the cultural clash which occurs when the white man tries to put on a play and the tribe does not understand what he is trying to do.

It originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, March 1997. It can aslo be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fifteenth Annual Collection (1998), edited by Gardner Dozois, The Best Alternate History Stories of the 20th Century (2001), edited by Harry Turtledove and Martin H. Greenberg and Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction (2005), edited by Gardner Dozois. It is included in the collections Are We Having Fun Yet? American Indian Fantasy Stories (2002) and East of the Sun and West of Fort Smith (2008).

David J. Schow's short stories have been regularly selected for over twenty-five volumes of "Year's Best" anthologies across three decades and have won the World Fantasy Award, the ultra-rare Dimension Award from Twilight Zone magazine, plus a 2002 International Horror Guild Award for his collection of Fangoria columns, Wild Hairs. Black Leather Required collects thirteen of Schow's short stories and includes an intro by John Farris. The stories included in this collection are:

• Introduction by John Farris
• The Shaft
• Sedalia
• A Week in the Unlife
• Scoop Makes a Swirly
• Kamikaze Butterflies
• Beggar's Banquet, with Summer Sausage
• Pitt Night at the Lewistone Boneyard
• Jerry's Kids Meet Wormboy
• Life Partner
• Last Call for the Sons of Shock
• Where the Heart Was
• Sand Sculpture
• Bad Guy Hats

When the trade caravan Driwna Marghoster was hired to protect is attacked, she discovers a dead body hidden inside a barrel. Born of the powerful but elusive Oskoro people, the body is a rare and priceless find, the centre of a tragic tale and the key to a larger mystery...

For when Driwna investigates who the body was meant for, she will find a trail of deceit and corruption which could bring down a kingdom, and an evil more powerful than she can imagine.

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Poe: 19 New Tales of Suspense, Dark Fantasy and Horror (2009), edited by Ellen Datlow, and was reprinted in Lightspeed, August 2016.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

I may go by Sebastien now, but my name was originally Romeo. And hers was Juliet.

It's a frosty fairytale of an evening when Helene and Sebastien meet for the first time. Except it isn't the first time. You already know that story, though it didn't happen quite as Shakespeare told it.

To Helene, Sebastien is the flesh-and-blood hero of the love stories she's spent her life writing. But Sebastien knows better - Helene is his Juliet, and their story has always been the same. He is doomed to find brief happiness with her over and over, before she dies, and he is left to mourn.

Albrecht and Brigitta. Matteo and Amélie. Jack and Rachel. Marius and Cosmina. By any name, no matter where and when in time, the two of them are drawn together, and it always ends in tragedy.

This time, Helene is determined that things will be different. But can these star-cross'd lovers forge a new ending to the greatest love story of all time?

A claustrophobic psychological thriller about one woman's nightmarish spiral while quarantined with her mother.

Grace isn't exactly thrilled when her newly widowed mother, Jackie, asks to move in with her. They've never had a great relationship, and Grace likes her space--especially now that she's stuck at home during a pandemic. Then again, she needs help with the mortgage after losing her job. And maybe it'll be a chance for them to bond--or at least give each other a hand.

But living with Mother isn't for everyone. Good intentions turn bad soon after Jackie moves in. Old wounds fester; new ones open. Grace starts having nightmares about her disabled twin sister, who died when they were kids. And Jackie discovers that Grace secretly catfishes people online--a hobby Jackie thinks is unforgivable.

When Jackie makes an earth-shattering accusation against her, Grace sees it as an act of revenge, and it sends her spiraling into a sleep-deprived madness. As the walls close in, the ghosts of Grace's past collide with a new but familiar threat: Mom.

Firmly rooted in modern archaeological discoveries about Bronze Age cultures, The Shattered Horse paints a vivid picture of a decaying golden age seen through the eyes of the survivors of Trojan War. At the center of the story is Prince Astyanax: heir to the Trojan kingdom, marked for death as a child by the Greek conquerors, escaping, perhaps by divine intervention, and doomed, perhaps, to repeat history.

Hugo-nominated and Nebula-winning Novella

This award-winning fantasy novella explores the conjunction of invocation, deep time, and culture shock. It was originally published in Subterranean Magazine, in the summer of 2010, and subsequently republished in Heiresses of Russ 2011: The Year's Best Lesbian Speculative Fiction, The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2011 and The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Vol. 5.

Naeva - the Lady of the story's title - is a sorceress in a matriarchy. After being fatally injured, she is persuaded to allow her spirit to be bound, so that she can be summoned and thus continue to advise her queen. However, after the queen has herself died, Naeva continues to be summoned... first by the queen's successor, and then by people from civilizations millenia later.

Read this story online for free at Subterranean Press.

A planet-killer asteroid is hurtling to Earth and everyone is freaking out. But not Manon Fontaine. She knows what the asteroid really is and it's hers. Once she controls it, she'll revive the world's post-war economy and also her mother's mining company. But first, she needs to navigate family betrayals and kidnapping attempts before she can finally determine her own fate.

Meanwhile, Ann Wilson, an augmented Union super-soldier, has been having problems (beyond the mental strains of indiscriminate killing): her last targets were blown up with fractional deuterium devices, and made things very messy. Ann hates messes. What she hates more is a commanding officer who jerks her around and then sends her, of all places, to Luna City. Little does she know she's conducting illegal missions to gain control of the asteroid.

In the middle of it all, is Eric Lin, a Union-born-Chinese thruster mechanic. Because of the war with the PPA, he's been ostracized and forced off-planet to Luna City and the orbital colonies. All he wants is to be accepted and left in peace. This apparently is too much to ask, as both the Union and the PPA send soldiers to drag him away for the-hell-knows what. The reason is in fact that he holds the key to controlling the asteroid.

Amidst traitorous double-agents and assassinations, Manon, Ann and Eric's paths collide, leaving a wake of destroyed orbital stations and rampaging mobs, ultimately leading them into a confrontation on the moon.

Dark forces are taking hold in the kingdom of Camelot: King Arthur struggles to keep his knights in line as they steadily divide themselves into factions; the great Merlin has vanished at the hands of his lover and pupil, Nimue; wizards all over the countryside battle for whatever measures of power they can find. At the center of the maelstrom stands Keira, an innocent girl who possesses the ability to foretell the fate of her world. When Keira is kidnapped from her village home, her mother, Alayna, flees to Camelot and finds Mordred, an enigmatic knight who will ultimately become Keira's greatest champion, Alayna's greatest love, and King Arthur's greatest enemy.

This novelette originally appeared in the anthology Synergy SF: New Science Fiction (2004), edited by George Zebrowski. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 10 (2005), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. The story is inclued in the collection Death at the Blue Elephant (2016).

When the spaceship Jehad blasted off for Mars, millions of miles from Earth, four men and one woman placed themselves under the rule of Dr. Lewis Spartan, sadistic, power-mad leader of the expedition. Only after they were well, on their way did they learn that Spartan planned to return to Earth alone!

By the time the ship reached Mars, jealous rivalry over the love of Gail Loring had turned the Jehad into a crucible of tension and strife. But their internal struggles were nothing compared to the threat of the grotesque Martians who used electrical energy as a weapon of war.

Suddenly, the Earthmen had to unite to stave off a massed Martian attack -- a fight which, if lost, meant isolation and death on Mars and, if won, meant bucking Spartan's demonic schemes.

Auga, a wandering sorcerer, follows his brother's fate-thread into the village of Ormsfjoll, where he expects to deliver good news and continue his travels. What he doesn't anticipate is that to meet his brother he must first contend with the truth at the heart of the volcano that wreaks havoc on Ormsfjoll.

Read the full story for free at Tor Reactor.

To the High Redoubt is an engaging, epic fantasy adventure written by the creator of the widely read series of novels about the immortal vampire known as Le Comte de Saint-Germain.

In his quest for power, Bundhi, Lord of Darkness and stealer of souls, has taken family, vision, and freedom from Surata, the last surviving adept in tantric alchemy, before selling her into slavery in a distant land. But he has underestimated the depth of Surata's power and he could not foresee that destiny would bring her a champion, Arkady, soldier of fortune and destined hero.

As their mutual trust deepens and the wellspring of power from which Surata draws her magic is steadily revealed, the two form an unbeatable force as they challenge their enemy in the very heart of his empire.

A boy and a girl become convinced that the white deer they discover in the woods is a unicorn.

Twenty-nine of the best-loved stories by the man some critics call the O. Henry of science fiction... stories that range from the wryly humorous to the deadly serious, but are always unforgettable.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction: A Brown Study (1977) - essay by Robert Bloch
• Arena (1944) - novelette
• Imagine (1955) - poem
• It Didn't Happen (1963) - short story
• Recessional (1961) - short story
• Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (1965) - short story by Fredric Brown and Carl Onspaugh
• Puppet Show (1962) - short story
• Nightmare in Yellow (1961) - short story
• Earthmen Bearing Gifts (1960) - short story
• Jaycee (1955) - short story
• Pi in the Sky (1945) - novelette
• Answer (1954) - short story
• The Geezenstacks (1943) - short story
• Hall of Mirrors (1953) - short story
• Knock (1948) - short story
• Rebound (1960) - short story
• Star Mouse (1942) - novelette
• Abominable (1960) - short story
• Letter to a Phoenix (1949) - short story
• Not Yet the End (1941) - short story
• Etaoin Shrdlu (1942) - short story
• Armageddon (1941) - short story
• Experiment (1954) - short story
• The Short Happy Lives of Eustace Weaver I (1961) - short story
• The Short Happy Lives of Eustace Weaver II (1961) - short story
• The Short Happy Lives of Eustace Weaver III (1961) - short story
• Reconciliation (1954) - short story
• Nothing Sirius (1944) - short story
• Pattern (1954) - short story
• The Yehudi Principle (1944) - short story
• Come and Go Mad (1949) - novelette
• The End (1961) - short story

Science fiction has always challenged readers with depictions of the future. Can the genre actually provide glimpses of the world of tomorrow? This collection of fifteen international and interdisciplinary essays examines the genre's predictions and breaks new ground by considering the prophetic functions of science fiction films as well as SF literature. Among the texts and topics examined are classic stories by Murray Leinster, C. L. Moore, and Cordwainer Smith; 2001: A Space Odyssey and its sequels, Japanese anime and Hong Kong cinema; and electronic fiction.

Contents:

• 1 - Of Futures Imagined, and Futures Inhabited - essay by Gary Westfahl
• 9 - Pitfalls of Prophecy: Why Science Fiction So Often Fails to Predict the Future - essay by Gary Westfahl
• 104 - Rebooting "A Logic Named Joe": Exploring the Multiple Influences of a Strangely Predictive Mid-1940s Short Story - essay by David L. Ferro and Eric G. Swedin
• 220 - Thinking About the Smart Wireless World - essay by Gregory Benford

The Man Who Mastered Time

It took what seemed but half a day's traveling to traverse the 28,000 years that separated Loto Rogers from the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. He had expected to find mighty cities and a flowering civilization in that future world, but instead he found only ice and snow--and Azeela.

Overlords From Space

Beware the planet-wreckers! The regime of the Zarles had turned Earth into Hell. Possessing strange unearthly perception, weapons of cosmic destruction, and motivated by an inhuman cruelty, these overlords from space had enslaved the Earth in a feudal terror. Then, one day, Jeff Gambrell, a human slave, defied his particular tyrant once too often and found himself facing the impossible challenge - how to escape. It had been done before, therefore he knew what had always seemed impossible was not...

Jeff's life and death struggle against the fiendish cunning of the Zarlesis is set against a startling background of unleashed interplanetary fury. Joseph E. Kelleam's new novel explores the frightening depths of man's inventive powers with brilliant detail and breath-taking power.

Sarah Minnivitch, an actor sentenced to prison for acts of civil disobedience, wreaked havoc at the for-profit medium-security facility she was first sent to. When Penco transfers her to a high-security facility, the facility's director assigns Dr. Eve Escher the task of rehabilitating Minnivitch and recovering the corporation's losses. Escher believes she is on the verge of a scientific breakthrough that will not only rehabilitate the prisoner but also win the physician fame and glory. But the stakes for both Escher and Minnivitch prove to be higher than either of them imagined.

Rebels of the Red Planet

MARS FOR THE MARTIANS! Dark Kensington had been dead for twenty-five years. It was a fact; everyone knew it. Then suddenly he reappeared, youthful, brilliant, ready to take over the Phoenix, the rebel group that worked to overthrow the tyranny that gripped the settlers on Mars.

The Phoenix had been destroyed not once, not twice, but three times! But this time the resurrected Dark had new plans, plans which involved dangerous experiments in mutation and psionics.

And now the rebels realized they were in double jeopardy. Not only from the government's desperate hatred of their movement, but also from the growing possibility that the new breed of mutated monsters would get out of hand and bring terrors never before known to man.

200 Years to Christmas

For almost two centuries the huge spaceship had speared its way through the stars, bound for another 200 hundred years of travel before it would put down on a new planet, a new home for the Earth people.

On board the metal-enclosed worldlet were four hundred people: the last survivors of Earth. It was up to them to start life anew, to correct the mistakes their ancestors had made.

But as the tenth generation neared maturity, the idle passengers found themselves face to face with these same problems--and this time there was no place to run and hide or to postpone their answers. For their miniature society was changing faster and faster. And the spaceship suddenly seemed destined to end as a star-bound coffin.

Tonight We Steal the Stars

In II Galaxy, only Wolf Dragonard can make the impossible possible.

The Wagered World

The astronauts didn't know they were betting the Earth on the toss of the dice!

When the strange hourglass-shaped time machine crashed out of the twentieth century and into the Caribbean Sea of fourteen hundred years ago, Neil Falsen realized how unprepared he was to head the expedition that his father had organized back through time. Of the four men who had flown through centuries to solve the mystery of an ancient Mayan god, two had died in the shattering crash. Only Neil and ship's pilot Dave remained to cope with the language and customs of a people who had disappeared into the darkness of history.

It was confusing enough not to know which century the machine had fallen into. But Neil was sure his eyes were playing tricks when he spotted a Norse ship cutting proudly through southern seas. How ancient Vikings, Mayas and two twentieth-century Americans met - and fought - amid the splendors of a civilization that today dots the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico with its ruins, makes a tale as unique in telling as it is in content.

In scenes that throb with drama and thunder with excitement, Dave and Neil found frightening evidence of the approaching Mayan collapse. With a common modern device, Neil stepped into a tense religious ceremony to prevent human sacrifice. Without realizing it, he discovered the secret of the white god among the Mayan Indian dieties.

One of history's most intriguing suppositions forms the basis for this tale of the secret behind the legend of a lost civilization.

With a good job and a pretty girlfriend, Bob Jones's one complaint in life is that he is ignored--until he is inducted into a secret society of the nondescript and dejected planning a horrifying revenge.

Joe McKinney's debut collection, The Red Empire & Other Stories, brings together eight tales of haunted policemen and cosmic horrors...

A chance encounter with a homeless man one hot summer night opens the doors of perception for a Houston beat cop...

Genetically engineered fire ants threaten to devour a small Texas border town, and the only thing in their way is a grief-stricken county man...

An ex-detective can no longer run from the ghost of his greatest failure...

A rare piece of non-fiction chronicles the author's fifteen year investigation into a century old cold case...

Police work can be hell. But there's no hell like the catacombs of the mind.

Classic Science Fiction

Here in one superlative volume 17 Science-Fiction tales by a master storyteller.

"The Midas Plague" - They had committed the greatest crime: failure to consume enough! So their punishment was to consume more and more and more....

"The Day the Icicle Works Closed" - The world was facing total unemployment, and the people had only one thing left to hock, their bodies!

"Happy Birthday, Dear Jesus" - There was peace on Earth. But joy to all men? Well, that was another matter!

"The Martian in the Attic" - What's the value of a real, live Martian? Duniop was determined to find out - and he did!

"Tunnel Under the World" - Things are not always what they seem, in fact. Not even what they seem to seem!

And lots more!

Table of Contents:

• A Variety of Excellence - (1975) - essay by Lester del Rey
• The Tunnel Under the World - (1955)
• Punch - (1961)
• Three Portraits and a Prayer - (1962)
• Day Million - (1966)
• Happy Birthday, Dear Jesus - (1956)
• We Never Mention Aunt Nora - (1958)
• Father of the Stars - (1964)
• The Day the Martians Came - (1967)
• The Midas Plague - (1954)
• The Snowmen - (1959)
• How to Count on Your Fingers - (1956)
• Grandy Devil - (1955)
• Speed Trap - (1967)
• The Richest Man in Levittown - (1959)
• The Day the Icicle Works Closed - (1960)
• The Hated - (1958)
• The Martian in the Attic - (1960)
• The Census Takers - (1956)
• The Children of Night - (1964)
• What the Author Has to Say About All This - (1975) - essay by Frederik Pohl

Dalmatians Pongo and Missis live in London with their beloved owners. When Missis finds out she's going to have puppies, they're all thrilled! But, Missis doesn't just have one puppy... or two... or three... she has fifteen! When the puppies go missing, Pongo and Missis know that there's only one woman who can be behind the dognapping: the notorious Cruella de Vil. They strike out across the city and - with a little help from the street dogs of London - rescue their pups and many, many more from a terrible fate.

Since meeting Kuroyukihime, Haruyuki has managed to grow up a bit. But suddenly this mature Haruyuki is confronted by Tomoko, an elementary school girl he's never met before--who calls him "big brother"?! When Kuroyukihime sees the two of them flirting, the look she gives Haruyuki is like a cold knife stabbing him in the gut! Meanwhile, in the Accelerated World, something very mysterious is taking place...

A cursed piece of Enhanced Armament called the Armor of Catastrophe is making the rounds, polluting the minds of the duel avatars that don it and causing those avatars to attack at random with no regard for friend or foe. Only Silver Crow, the sole duel avatar with the power of flight, can apprehend the relic. Is Haruyuki up to the challenge on this mission to subjugate the Armor?!

The silver wings responsible for the rise of Nega Nebulus, the legion led by Kuroyukihime, are weakening! During the battle with the mysterious Acceleration Research Society, Haruyuki sustained corrosion damage from the revived Chrome Disaster, and he has still been unable to escape its effects. The Seven Kings of Pure Color take this very seriously, and soon they hand down their judgement: purification. Now Haruyuki is faced with a choice--undergo the grueling purification process, or have a bounty on his head and risk being cast out of the Accelerated World altogether!

A new hotshot Burst Linker appears, taking Silver Crow down. Haruyuki, still struggling to obtain the Theoretical Mirror ability, sees Wolfram Cerberus as a roadblock in his larger quest to get stronger and defeat Archangel Metatron. He soon meets Chocolat Puppeteer, a duel avatar made out of... chocolate?! With her help, will Silver Crow finally grow into the fighter all seven legions need to successfully carry out their mission against Metatron?

PREPARE FOR A FULL DIVE!

The Deity of Demise, Tezcatlipoca, has visited pandemonium upon the Accelerated World and driven Haruyuki to withdraw from Nega Nebulus! Parting ways with Kuroyukihime proves difficult, and harder still is surrendering himself to none other than the White King! Now finding himself among the ranks of Oscillatory Universe, Haruyuki pays a visit to Eternal Girls' Academy, the White Legion headquarters. There, he'll come face-to-face with the true identities of the Seven Dwarves and undergo a special trial of his own. But given that Haruyuki and Kuroyukihime are no longer connected by the Black Legion, what will become of their bond...?

A whole army of evil Librarians!

And Alcatraz Smedry has only his friend, Bastille, a few pairs of glasses and an unlimited supply of exploding teddy bears to help him defend the island of Mokia. Even Alcatraz's extraordinary talent for breaking things may not be enough to defeat the evil Librarians' giant robots. Can Alcatraz find a way to save the Free Kingdoms?

Welcome to Argylle -- and its ruling family, a brilliant flighty, civilized, and occasionally dangerous clan of nearly immortal warriors and magicians. Where young Prince Gwydion, stuck with ruling the Dominion, is finding his reign... eventful. Where strange Things keep turning up. Plagues of monsters. The arrival of a ravenous Great Dragon. And where a mysterious young woman who claims to be Gwydion's long-lost -- indeed, quite unsuspected--sister. It's enough, Gwydion thinks, to make a ruler want to find a nice long errand that'll take him away from his homeland for a spell...

For Shannivar, warrior of the Azkhantia Steppe, the future is grim. She faces twin threats: the mighty Gelon empire, ruthessly conquering independent nations like her own, and the malevolent entity of Fire and Ice, unleashed from its prison in the Far North. And she must face them alone.

After meeting Zevaron, an exiled prince in search of aid from Azkhantia, Shannivar and Zevaron had traveled together and fallen in love. But their journey to the north to investigate dangerous omens failed when Zevaron was enthralled by the monstrous Fire and Ice. Now Zevaron's hatred for Gelon, the empire that destroyed his kingdom and killed his mother, threatens to consume not only him, but all the living world.

The service of Britannia is not for the faint of heart--or conscience...

Emma Bannon, Sorceress Prime in service to Queen Victrix, has a mission: to find the doctor who has created a powerful new weapon. Her friend, the mentath Archibald Clare, is only too happy to help. It will distract him from pursuing his nemesis, and besides, Clare is not as young as he used to be. A spot of Miss Bannon's excellent hospitality and her diverting company may be just what he needs.Unfortunately, their quarry is a fanatic, and his poisonous discovery is just as dangerous to Britannia as to Her enemies. Now a single man has set Londinium ablaze, and Clare finds himself in the middle of distressing excitement, racing against time and theory to find a cure. Miss Bannon, of course, has troubles of her own, for the Queen's Consort Alberich is ill, and Her Majesty unhappy with Bannon's loyal service. And there is still no reliable way to find a hansom when one needs it most...

The game is afoot. And the Red Plague rises. The fantastic follow-up to The Iron Wyrm Affair, set in an alternate Victorian world where magic has turned the Industrial Revolution on its head.

Nebula Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in If, November 1965. The story can also be found in the anthologies World's Best Science Fiction: 1966, edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr and Visions of Wonder (1996), edited by David G. Hartwell and Milton T. Wolf. It is included in the collection Berserker (1967).

The problem with doors is that they open both ways. There are monsters inside, and some of them are trying to get out...

Mr. Peregrine has been kidnapped! Now it's up to Darwen, Rik, and Alexandra to rescue him. They'll embark upon a journey that will take them deeper into Silbrica than they've ever gone before, and there, on the other side of the mirror, they'll find the strangest sight of all: an exact replica of Hillside Academy. This is only the first of many connections that Darwen and his friends are about to discover between the human world and the world of Silbrica. And as the connections begin piling up, they'll be forced to confront the most horrifying realisation of all: they've been lied to this entire time.

The ghosts of Boar's Head Tavern match wits with flesh-and-blood spies.

After seventeen-year-old Felicita's dearest friend Ilven kills herself to escape an arranged marriage, Felicita chooses freedom over privilege. She fakes her own death and leaves her sheltered life as one of Pelimburg's magical elite behind. Living in the slums, scrubbing dishes for a living, she falls for charismatic Dash while also becoming fascinated with vampire Jannik.

Then something shocking washes up on the beach: Ilven's death has called out of the sea a dangerous wild magic. Felicita must decide whether her loyalties lie with the family she abandoned... or with those who would twist this dark power to destroy Pelimburg's caste system, and the whole city along with it.

The epic sword-and-sorcery Bound Gods fantasy series comes to its dark conclusion in this thrilling story of a vibrant world whose fate lies in the hands of vengeful gods and bold warriors.

The world has been plunged into darkness... and only the scheming priest Joros might be able to bring back the sun.

With his ragtag band of fighters -- a laconic warrior, a pair of street urchins, a ruthless priestess, and an unhinged sorcerer -- Joros seeks to defeat the ancient gods newly released from their long imprisonment. But the Twins have champions of their own, and powers beyond knowing... and the only sure thing is that they won't go down without a fight.

The fate of the world hangs in the balance as the Twins aim to enact revenge on the parents that imprisoned them, and the world that spurned them. The Long Night has begun, and the shadows hide many secrets -- including that the Twins themselves may not be as powerful as they would have everyone think.

Joros and his allies must strike now--before the Twins can consolidate their power... and before they are allowed to shape the world in their vision.

In The Land: Predators, the Mist Village has harnessed its power. Core buildings, Professional fighters and now, their own Dungeon, the settlement is primed to grow into a kingdom of true power and magic. The path to power has not been without risk, however. The MistVillage has been noticed.

Evil nobles from the Kingdom of Law, bloodthirsty goblins fromthe Serrated Mountains, an undead lord with a penchant for human sacrifice and fanatical kobolds from the Depths, all plot the village's destruction. The predators are circling. Richter's people are horribly outnumbered by foes whose own power has been entrenched for thousands of years.

Richter and Sion need to be stronger than ever before. Luckily, they are. New skills have been learned, stronger enchantments have been wrought and the hundreds of villagers have answered the call to adventure. The Companions do not stand alone. While many eyes have turned towards the mists, wanting to take the treasures within, the Mist Village stares back with a simple message.

Come and get it!

Seven years have passed since the Siege?a time when the hungry dead had risen?but the memories still haunt Illi Basbowen. Though she was trained to be an elite assassin, now the Basbowen clan act as Ghadid's militia force protecting the resurrected city against a growing tide of monstrous guul that travel across the dunes.

Illi's worst fears are confirmed when General Barca arrives, bearing news that her fledgling nation, Hathage, also faces this mounting danger. In her search for the source of the guul, the general exposes a catastrophic secret hidden on the outskirts of Ghadid.

To protect her city and the realm, Illi must travel to Harthage and confront her inner demons in order to defeat a greater one?but how much can she sacrifice to protect everything she knows from devastation?

While young men wage war against an evil empire of zealous mutants, the population of this modern inferno is afflicted with the epidemic of a radioactive virus. An opium-infused apocalyptic vision from the legendary author of Naked Lunch is the first of the trilogy with The Places of the Dead Roads and his final novel, The Western Plains.

Conan defies the sorcerous power of the Cult of Doom for the sake of a beautiful young woman known only as Yasbet. From the glory of fabled Aghrapur, capital of Turan, to the demon-haunted wastes of the Blasted Lands, Conan proves himself the greatest hero of a bygone era of high adventure.

Sailing under the grim skull-jack flag of the Red Brotherhood, Conan is the most feared pirate to prowl the Vilayet Sea, claiming as hi booty even Philiope, the beautiful black-haired daughter of a powerful nobleman. But in the domed imperial palace of Aghrapur, the decadent Emperor Yildiz and his corrupt allies plot the destruction of the powerful barbarian the know only as Amra the Lion.

As Conan carves a pirate empire with cutlass and dagger, the Turanian navy takes to the seas, aided by hellish sorcery of the darkest sort. Mighty ships manned by undead zombies, and a titanic monster summoned from the nether depths, are pitted against the deadly sword of one man... Conan of the Red Brotherhood.

She could hear that laughter again, and for a moment Velody was confused, not sure which dead man was mocking her.

Velody now holds the leadership of the Creature Court. The unsteady alliances within the Court are beginning to fracture, as a series of murders and disappearances throw suspicion on one of their own. Ashiol finds Aufleur's many festivals frivolous, until a major one is cancelled. Unease grows. It seems nothing can save the city from a massacre ... nothing but the ultimate sacrifice from one of the Creature Kings.

The Sturm, an empire of "species purists", have returned from the farthest reaches of Dark Space to wage a war against what they call mutants and borgs: any human being with genetic or neural engineering. In a sneak attack, they overwhelmed almost all of humanity's defenses, blasting vicious malware across galaxy-spanning networks, dark code that transformed anyone connected to the system into a mindless psychotic killer. The Sturm's victory seemed complete, their final triumph inevitable, until one small band of intrepid, unlikely heroes struck back.

Commander Lucinda Hardy and Admiral Frazer McLennan used the Armadalen Navy's final surviving warship to fend off the Sturm, destroying the massed power of an entire attack fleet. With brilliant tactics - and support from drunken, grief-ravaged pirate Sephina L'trel and treasonous battle-rig operator Booker - this ragtag crew sent the Sturm running, managing to save Princess Alessia, the sole surviving heir to the gigantic Montanblanc ul Haq Corporation and perhaps Earth's only remaining senator.

Now left with the remains of a fallen civilization, they must work together to rebuild what was lost and root out the numberless enemies of Earth. The Sturm invaders remain vastly more powerful - and they may not be the only threat lurking in the darkness of space.

A master of war and a mistress of magic--battling for rule of ancient Ireland!

AN ISLAND AT WAR

True, they are a strange couple... Cena, noble Queen of the Danans, and Sixarms, savage chieftain of the Freths. Yet a match between them would unite the two tribes and end the fighting that bloodies the island that will someday be known as Ireland.

Yet there are plenty among their peoples who oppose the union--and one who would stoop to treachery to prevent it--treachery and magic.

Desperate to find a case to justify the team's existence, with budget cuts and a police strike on the horizon, Quill thinks he's struck gold when a cabinet minister is murdered by an assailant who wasn't seen getting in or out of his limo. A second murder, that of the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, presents a crime scene with a message... identical to that left by the original Jack the Ripper.

The new Ripper seems to have changed the MO of the old completely: he's only killing rich white men. The inquiry into just what this supernatural menace is takes Quill and his team into the corridors of power at Whitehall, to meetings with MI5, or 'the funny people' as the Met call them, and into the London occult underworld. They go undercover to a pub with a regular evening that caters to that clientele, and to an auction of objects of power at the Tate Modern.

Meanwhile, in Paul Cornell's The Severed Streets, the Ripper keeps on killing and finally the pattern of those killings gives Quill's team clues towards who's really doing this....

Katharine Kerr's richly imagined cycle of novels set in Deverry and the Westlands has earned a devoted following--and a reputation as the finest Celtic fantasy being written today. Now she returns to Deverry's war-ravaged past....

In a kingdom torn by civil war, young Lillorigga seeks to shield her dawning powers from her cruel mother Merodda's manipulation. Mistress of a magic that, untamed, could kill her, Lilli brings her terrifying visions under the kindlier tutelage of the mysterious dweomermaster, Nevyn. But soon she must choose between her own clan and the true king who fights to claim his rightful throne, between sanctuary and blood feud, loyalty and love. Little does she dream that the slaughter she invites, and the malevolence she defies, could stalk her across the ages...twisting and twining the strands of timeless destinies.

Into a subterranean world of red-hot lava, Doc Savage and his fantastic five descend -- to face the most fiendish foe of his career. Awaiting Doc is an irresistible power that can level mountains... that can enslave the world... and that threatens to make Doc's most dangerous adventure his very last...

Lester Dent authored this book under pseudonym Kenneth Robeson.

Lured into a trap by a bogus appeal to his sense of goodness, Doc Savage saw a dangerous plot to gain control of all the world's airlines. But the monstrous financial manipulator High Lar, his wife Lo Lar and their gang hadn't counted on the superhuman strength and cunning of the Man of Bronze to uncover their evil plan!

Lester Dent authored this novel under pseudonym Kenneth Robeson.

The Red Terrors -- they came out of the depths to seize an unsuspected ship and transport its precious human cargo to their watery domain. There, in a lost sunken world under the sea, they lived securely. Until they sank the wrong ship... and the Man of Bronze came to call.

Harold A. Davis authored this novel under pseudonym Kenneth Robeson.

Doc smuggles himself into Moscow on his most daring mission yet! The Man of Bronze tangles with a deadly military secret, some sinister Soviets, and -- most dangerous of all -- a heroine of the Russian underground who is as treacherous as she is beautiful.

Lester Dent authored this novel under pseudonym Kenneth Robeson.

More information available at the Hidalgo Trading Company website.

The Whisker of Hercules

A superhuman god springs from mythology to terrorize and destroy. Those who cross its malevolent path also discover a quick way to die. Doc Savage and his crew set out to stop this ancient evil, and just as Doc closes in -- he's face to face with a silver-haired Adonis!

This is # 103 in the Doc Savage Novels series.

More information about The Whisker of Hercules available at the Hidalgo Trading Company website.

The Man Who Was Scared

A simple breakfast cereal sends Doc after a faceless criminal mastermind who is plotting nationwide horror. Following a wild battle in New York's Grand Central Station, Doc discovers two shuddering facts -- his crew has vanished, and the cops, army, and FBI want him for murder!

This is # 104 in the Doc Savage Novels series.

More information about The Man Who Was Scared available at the Hidalgo Trading Company website.

Lester Dent authored both novels under pseudonym Kenneth Robeson.

Barclow - an Earth-type planet on the fringes of space at an inestimably distant point in the future. Two factions claim it: humans from the nearby colony world of Metralubit and a small group of Chelonian troopers. Yet in nearly two hundred years of conflict, not one shot has been fired in anger, there are regular socials in the trenches and the military commanders are the best of friends.

The Doctor, Romana II and K9 arrive in the midst of these bizarre hostilities to find there's real trouble to come. A crucial election on Metralubit is looming and K9 is forced to begin a new career as a politician. Romana meets an old friend and the Doctor finds that a sinister hidden force may be attempting to alter the war's friendly nature.

What are the plans of Galatea, the leader of the beautiful robotic Femdroids? Who is killing soldiers on both sides of the battle lines? Will K9's oratory save the day?

Multi-award winning author Aliette de Bodard, brings her story of the War in Heaven to Paris, igniting the City of Light in a fantasy of divine power and deep conspiracy...

In the late Twentieth Century, the streets of Paris are lined with haunted ruins. The Great Magicians' War left a trail of devastation in its wake. The Grand Magasins have been reduced to piles of debris, Notre-Dame is a burnt-out shell, and the Seine has turned black with ashes and rubble and the remnants of the spells that tore the city apart. But those that survived still retain their irrepressible appetite for novelty and distraction, and The Great Houses still vie for dominion over France's once grand capital.

Once the most powerful and formidable, House Silverspires now lies in disarray. Its magic is ailing; its founder, Morningstar, has been missing for decades; and now something from the shadows stalks its people inside their very own walls.

Within the House, three very different people must come together: a naive but powerful Fallen angel; an alchemist with a self-destructive addiction; and a resentful young man wielding spells of unknown origin. They may be Silverspires' salvation--or the architects of its last, irreversible fall. And if Silverspires falls, so may the city itself.

While Graf von Dracula commands the German army and Baron von Richthofen spreads terror in the skies during World War I, a resurrected Edgar Allan Poe is commissioned by the Germans to write a fabulous biography of the Red Baron.

The threat of Moriarty is gone--but so is Sherlock Holmes.

Even as they mourn the loss of their colleague, psychic Nan Killian, medium Sarah Lyon-White, and Elemental Masters John and Mary Watson must be vigilant, for members of Moriarty's network are still at large. And their troubles are far from over: in a matter of weeks, two headless bodies of young brides wash up in major waterways. A couple who fears for their own recently-wedded daughter hires the group to investigate, but with each new body, the mystery only deepens.

The more bodies emerge, the more the gang suspects that there is dangerous magic at work, and that Moriarty's associates are somehow involved. But as they race against the clock to uncover the killer, it will take all their talents, Magic, and Psychic Powers--and perhaps some help from a dearly departed friend--to bring the murderer to justice.

September misses Fairyland and her friends Ell, the Wyverary, and the boy Saturday. She longs to leave the routines of home and embark on a new adventure. Little does she know that this time, she will be spirited away to the moon, reunited with her friends, and find herself faced with saving Fairyland from a moon-Yeti with great and mysterious powers.

They were three battered oddities flung together by blind chance.

Together in uneasy alliance they were forced to challenge the most powerful forces in the galaxy to preserve their freedom -- and their very lives.

Moses Callahan: Captain of the star-tramp WILD GOOSE, last of a dying breed of independents, always on the fringes of bankruptcy. Desperation left him with a cargo that could destroy a world.

Mitsuko "Spooky" Tamura: first mate, engineer, crew of the WILD GOOSE, a telepath seeking refuge from the obscene babble of mankind in the silence of space -- and slowly learning the killing power of her mutant talent.

Deacon Hallorhan: Pilot of the WILD GOOSE, a super-soldier, programmed to kill, conditioned into docility, a human time-bomb waiting to explode.

Between them tensions that could only build to critical mass...

When Shamur Uskevren, the matriarch of one of Sembia's oldest and most powerful merchant families, is tricked by an angry wizard into an assassination attempt on her own husband, her family is thrown into turmoil. Once the truth is dicovered, she and her husband must struggle to save their family and stop the sorcerer. But in her anger, she has fogotten one thing: in the world of intrigue and decption, of shadows and lies that is Sembia, nothing is ever what it seems.

What brings a demon to the gates of heaven?

The half-fiend Kaanyr Vhok finally arrives at the destination he has sacrificed so much to achieve--he is in the heart of Celestia with his lover and consort, the succubus Aliisza. Only to find that the House of the Triad is falling apart, and he is bound by a vengeful Aliisza and a renegade angel into trying to save it--not exactly the goal he had in mind.

The second full-length novel in The Empyrean Odyssey, The Fractured Sky continues to follow War of the Spider Queen favorites Aliisza and Kaanyr Vhok as the pair of fiends struggle to escape the heart of a deeply troubled Celestia while bound to a particularly determined angel.

Douglas Niles pens a thrilling climax to The Maztica Trilogy, the exotic location set within the Forgotten Realms.

The greatest city in Maztica lies in ruins as a plague of hideous monsters descends across the land. From the ashes of destruction, a tenuous alliance forms. Legionnaires and native warriors fight side by side, desperate to stem the onslaught of chaos. Their only hope of victory requires aid from beyond Faerun--the prophecy given to Erixitl of Palul: Quotal, immortal Plumed Serpent, will return to Maztica for a final battle against the forces of evil. But already the Feathered Dragon may be too late.

The future is blue. Endless blue... except for a few small places that float across the hot, drowned world left behind by long-gone fossil fuel-guzzlers. One of those patches is a magical place called Garbagetown.

Tetley Abednego is the most beloved girl in Garbagetown, but she's the only one who knows it. She's the only one who knows a lot of things: that Garbagetown is the most wonderful place in the world, that it's full of hope, that you can love someone and 66% hate them all at the same time.

But Earth is a terrible mess, hope is a fragile thing, and a lot of people are very angry with her. Then Tetley discovers a new friend, a terrible secret, and more to her world than she ever expected.

The first quarter of this book was published as the novelette The Past Is Red and it can be read for free at Clarkesworld.

Contents:

• 9 - The Red Peri - (1935) - novella
• 60 - Proteus Island - (1936) - novelette
• 94 - Flight on Titan - (1935) - novelette
• 118 - Smothered Seas - (1936) - novelette with Ralph Milne Farley
• 149 - Redemption Cairn - (1936) - novelette
• 181 - The Brink of Infinity - (1936) - shortstory
• 193 - Shifting Seas - (1937) - novelette
• 218 - Revolution of 1960 - (1938) - novella with Ralph Milne Farley (variant of Revolution of 1950)

Haruhi is the bossy and beautiful leader of the SOS Brigade, a club comprised of her high school's most extraordinary (and strangest) students. On a typical day, the SOS Brigade must struggle to keep Haruhi happy and occupied because, unbeknownst to her, Haruhi has the power to destroy the world!

This third volume in the Haruhi Suzumiya series is a collection of four exciting short stories that chronologically take place before The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya.

The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya:

In her latest attempt to give the S.O.S. Brigade more public exposure, Haruhi signs the group up for the city-wide baseball tournament. Featuring the bat that can only hit home runs.

Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody:

It's like Back To the Future! In order to prevent an impending disaster, Mikuru takes Kyon back in time, where he meets Haruhi as a seventh grader. Haruhi was just as much trouble then as well!

Mysterique Sign:

The computer club president at school mysteriously disappears, and it's up to the S.O.S. Brigade to get to the bottom of it!

Remote Island Syndrome:

It's vacation time when a relative of Itsuki's invites the S.O.S. Brigade to stay at his island villa. But then a dead body turns up, and Haruhi and the gang get mixed up in a thrilling murder mystery. Zoinks!

Once upon a time, humanity could no longer contain the rage that swelled within, and the world ended in a wave of fire.

One hundred years later, in the wasteland formerly known as America, a broken man who goes only by the name of Cavalo survives. Purposefully cutting himself off from what remains of civilization, Cavalo resides in the crumbling ruins of the North Idaho Correctional Institution. A mutt called Bad Dog and a robot on the verge of insanity comprise his only companions. Cavalo himself is deteriorating, his memories rising like ghosts and haunting the prison cells.

It's not until he makes the dangerous choice of crossing into the irradiated Deadlands that Cavalo comes into contact with a mute psychopath, one who belongs to the murderous group of people known as the Dead Rabbits. Taking the man prisoner, Cavalo is forced not only to face the horrors of his past, but the ramifications of the choices made for his stark present. And it is in the prisoner that he will find a possible future where redemption is but a glimmer that darkly shines.

The world has died. This is the story of its remains.

An ambitious young woman with the power to control minds seeks vengeance against the royals who murdered her family, in a Caribbean-inspired fantasy world embattled by colonial oppression.

Sigourney Rose is the only surviving daughter of a noble lineage on the islands of Hans Lollik. When she was a child, her family was murdered by the islands' colonizers, who have massacred and enslaved generations of her people--and now, Sigourney is ready to exact her revenge.

When the childless king of the islands declares that he will choose his successor from amongst eligible noble families, Sigourney uses her ability to read and control minds to manipulate her way onto the royal island and into the ranks of the ruling colonizers. But when she arrives, prepared to fight for control of all the islands, Sigourney finds herself the target of a dangerous, unknown magic.

Someone is killing off the ruling families to clear a path to the throne. As the bodies pile up and all eyes regard her with suspicion, Sigourney must find allies among her prey and the murderer among her peers... lest she become the next victim.

When James Asher and his wife Lydia's baby daughter Miranda is kidnapped by the Master Vampire of London, the stakes are high: blindly follow the Master Vampire's instructions, keep out of the way of the human networks that serves the vampires, destroy the interloper who seeks to seize control of the London Nest, and find the key to the Nest's tortuous inner workings: The Book of the Kindred of Darkness.

Even with the vampire Don Simon Ysidro on their side, there's no guarantee that anything - or anyone - is who or what they appear to be. Nor is there any certainty that they'll see their child again - or survive the experience themselves.

The second in an action-packed epic fantasy series set in a world with dragon-fueled magic where master con artist Ardor Benn must infiltrate a centuries old secret organization to find a missing royal heir.

Ardor Benn saved civilization from imminent destruction, but his efforts brought war to the kingdom. It is believed that the rightful rulers have all been assassinated. However, a young heir might have survived.

An ancient organization known as The Realm is behind the chaos, working from the shadows. Under the anonymity of masks, information is distributed sparingly.

Ard's been hired to infiltrate them, but he's got competition from an old friend. One who's set to prove she's better than the self-proclaimed "Ruse Artist Extraordinaire."

If Ard can't find the heir then his world may again approach ruin. Stopping the complete and utter collapse of civilization is quickly becoming Ard's specialty.

Emilia is reeling from a shocking discovery about her sister, Vittoria. But before she faces the demons of her past, Emilia yearns to claim her king, the seductive Prince of Wrath, in the flesh. She doesn't just desire his body; she wants his heart and soul--but that's something the enigmatic demon can't promise her.

When a high-ranking member of House Greed is assassinated, damning evidence somehow points to Vittoria as the murderer. Now, Emilia will do anything to get to the bottom of these accusations against the sister she thought she knew.

Together, Emilia and Wrath play a sin-fueled game of deception to solve the murder and stop the unrest that's brewing between witches, demons, shape-shifters, and the most treacherous foes of all: the Feared. Emilia was warned that when it came to the Wicked, nothing was as it seemed. But have the true villains been much closer all along?

Following in the footsteps of writers like China Miéville and Richard K. Morgan, Mark Charan Newton balances style and storytelling in this bold and brilliant debut. Nights of the Villjamur marks the beginning of a sweeping new fantasy epic.

Beneath a dying red sun sits the proud and ancient city of Villjamur, capital of a mighty empire that now sits powerless against an encroaching ice age. As throngs of refugees gather outside the city gates, a fierce debate rages within the walls about the fate of these desperate souls. Then tragedy strikes-and the Emperor's elder daughter, Jamur Rika, is summoned to serve as queen. Joined by her younger sister, Jamur Eir, the queen comes to sympathize with the hardships of the common people, thanks in part to her dashing teacher Randur Estevu, a man who is not what he seems.

Meanwhile, the grisly murder of a councillor draws the attention of Inspector Rumex Jeryd. Jeryd is a rumel, a species of nonhuman that can live for hundreds of years and shares the city with humans, birdlike garuda, and the eerie banshees whose forlorn cries herald death. Jeryd's investigation will lead him into a web of corruption-and to an obscene conspiracy that threatens the lives of Rika and Eir, and the future of Villjamur itself.

But in the far north, where the drawn-out winter has already begun, an even greater threat appears, against which all the empire's military and magical power may well prove useless-a threat from another world.

Villiren: a city of sin that is being torn apart from the inside. Hybrid creatures shamble through shadows and barely human gangs fight turf wars for control of the streets. Amidst this chaos, Commander Brynd Lathraea, commander of the Night Guard, must plan the defence of Viliren against a race that has broken through from some other realm and already slaughtered hundreds of thousands of the Empire's people.

When a Night Guard soldier goes missing, Brynd requests help from the recently arrived Inqusitor Jeryd. He discovers this is not the only disappearance the streets of Villiren. It seems that a serial killer of the most horrific kind is on the loose, taking hundreds of people from their own homes. A killer that cannot possibly be human. The entire population of Villiren must unite to face an impossible surge of violent and unnatural enemies or the city will fall. But how can anyone save a city that is already a ruin?

A new and corrupt Emperor seeks to rebuild the ancient structures of Villjamur to give the people of the city hope in the face of great upheaval and an oppressing ice age. But when a stranger called Shalev arrives, empowering a militant underground movement, crime and terror becomes rampant. The Inquisition is always one step behind, and military resources are spread thinly across the Empire. So Emperor Urtica calls upon cultists to help construct a group to eliminate those involved with the uprising, and calm the populace. But there's more to The Villjamur Knights than just phenomenal skills and abilities - each have a secret that, if exposed, could destroy everything they represent.

Investigator Fulcrom of the Villjamur Inquisition is given the unenviable task of managing the Knights', but his own skills are tested when a mysterious priest, who has travelled from beyond the fringes of the Empire, seeks his help. The priest's existence threatens the church, and his quest promises to unweave the fabric of the world. And in a distant corner of the Empire, the enigmatic cultist Dartun Sur steps back into this world, having witnessed horrors beyond his imagination. Broken, altered, he and the remnants of his cultist order are heading back to Villjamur. And all eyes turn to the Sanctuary City, for Villjamur's ancient legends are about to be shattered ...

The fourth book in this epic about a civilisation on the brink of collapse

War spills into the Boreal Archipelago, as two rival cultures bring their eternal battle into this adjacent realm.

Fresh from a military victory, Commander Brynd Lathraea plans to rebuild the city of Villiren, where he is confronted with a dilemma. There are friendly forces who have no other choice but to live alongside his own people, and their numbers will be required to fight in the looming conflict. The commander turns politician as he seeks to build bridges and embrace mysterious new technologies to further his ambitions. However, many in Villiren are sceptical of aliens coming to their city, tensions run high, and even the dream of a peaceful future brings with it inevitable clashes of beliefs.

Meanwhile, Villjamur has been destroyed. A vast swathe of refugees from the legendary city are now on the run from an immense alien presence in the sky. Villages are being cleared and people are dying en masse. And Inquisitor Fulcrom finds himself at the helm of an operation to aid the refugee exodus to the coast, but it's a race against time before this threatened genocide is complete. Ancient civilisations line up on the field of battle. Exotic creatures and a possible god walk alongside citizens of the Empire. As the Legends of the Red Sun series draws to a close, there will be one final and immense conflict to decide the fate of multiple cultures forever.

Dabugo should have died the day he was born, left on the beach to be taken by the waves. Instead he miraculously survived, and his village decided his life must serve some greater purpose, and raised him out of obligation instead of love. As soon as they decided he was grown enough, he was cast out to survive on his own. With only a fugitive as a companion, Dabugo must face the harsh elements of his island, learn how to harness the power growing inside his twisted body, and face the destiny that he survived to fulfill.

After a chance encounter at a Kabuki theater, Zach Johnson has reluctantly agreed to lend a hand to Sexy Sprockets, 2060's most fabulously famous pop-singer. Sexy has received a slew of death threats from an obsessive fan intent on making sure her ascendant career is cut short. In the guise of Sexy's bodyguard, Zach enters the dizzying world of showbiz to uncover Sexy's stalker before he can make good on his threats.

Together with his sentient super-computer, HARV, and his psionic assistant, Carol, Zach must use all his PI wisdom to ensnare the would-be killer. At the same time, world famous media mogul Rupert Roundtree has positioned Zach as the unwilling star of his next great reality series, entitled Let's Kill Zach. Zach will need to stay one step ahead of the murderous mogul if he's going to save the imperiled pop singer.

In the year 2060, Zach Johnson, the world's only freelance private investigator, tackles his strangest case yet--solving the murders of two elves at the North Pole.

Santana Clausa, the micro-mini skirt clad bombshell and frost-haired mutant who runs the Pole hires Zach to stop the killer or killers before they strike again, destroying the Holiday for billions. If the media gets whiff of the murders at the happiest, safest place on Earth, mass panic is sure to ensue--and that's never a good thing. With the happiness of billions at stake, Zach and Harv (his A.I. companion wired directly to his brain--yes it was as painful as it sounds) will match wits, muscle, and technology against a bevy of superhuman females, a mutant elf with an attitude, killer robots, and even a couple of nerds with an agenda.

The world's last freelance detective, Zach Johnson, must find the assassin who murdered Sexy Sprocket and two other members of the World Council. His investigation leads him to the Moon-and to a tall, sensuous, blue-haired beauty named Lea who possesses psychic powers, and powerful ambitions...

Glavis Judd: Protector of the galaxy or interstellar tyrant? Unscrupulous reporter Dexel Dynes doesn't care. He's only after a sensational story -- the more violent the better.

Meanwhile, the TARDIS has landed Peri and the Sixth Doctor on a strangely isolated little world, whose immaculate gardens basking under a timeless sun seem the very model of tranquillity. Of course, it's too good to be true.

The official novelization of the summer blockbuster The Predator, Shane Black's new movie with a screenplay by Shane Black and Fred Dekker.

For centuries Earth has been visited by warlike creatures that stalk mankind's finest warriors. Their goals unknown, these deadly hunters kill their prey and depart as invisibly as they arrived, leaving no trace other than a trail of bodies.

When a young boy accidentally triggers the universe's most lethal Hunters' return to earth, only a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers and a disgruntled science teacher can prevent the end of the human race.

Eirithan, ruler of Sidhe, is paranoid about threats to his throne, even when none exist. Swayed by political intriguers, he is convinced that his younger brother, Ardagh, is guilty of treason. His honor falsely destroyed, Ardagh suffers the worst of all possible fates -- banishment to the land of humans. He is lost and alone in a world of Christian kings and Viking raiders.

Queen Jelena of Shkoder has decided to start her reign by commissioning a ship to undertake the exploration of uncharted waters in search of the homeland of the legendary Dark Sailor. When disaster strikes, the bard Benedikt -- who Sings only One Quarter, that of Water -- is hopelessly stranded with no way to get word back to the queen. Washed up on the shores of a distant land, Benedikt is claimed by his rescuers as a pawn in their intricate and perilous game of politics and religion. Can this One Quarter bard find a Song that will let him survive without disturbing the precarious power balance of a civilization he barely understands?

Daniel Leary is Cinnabar's most successful space captain; his friend, Lady Adele Mundy, is its most efficient spy—but they've got their hands full this time as they face:

A Cinnabar Senator furious at losing an election—and still powerful enough to make her anger deadly.

The boy ruler of a star cluster who thinks he's a god—and who can sign the death warrants of even Cinnabar officials if a mad whimsy tells him to.

A world of slaves and escaped slaves, where the most savage beasts in the jungle used to be human.

An enemy base that could shrug off attack by powerful battlefleets—but which must fall to a single cruiser if Cinnabar is to survive.

From palace to reeking jungle, from gunfights in grimy hangars to the flagship's bridge during a sprawling space battle, Leary and Mundy are in the thick of it again. Watch the galaxy explode — IN THE STORMY RED SKY!

For millennia after the collapse of the great galactic empire in a war that destroyed hundreds of whole planets, the surviving worlds of the Confederation had permitted no new scientific research. The resultant stagnation was considered an acceptable price, since it meant no new weapons of war would be developed, and wars could be confined to disputes between nations on a single planet. But when one of their colony planets was discovered by warships from the Caliphate, another surviving group of planets with technology far superior to anything the Confederation possessed, the Confederation discovered that they had made a fatal mistake. Only the nearly superhuman abilities of the Tyss-trained White Regiment had driven off the attackers. But now the Caliphate is returning in force, with a vast fleet warships, determined to conquer the Confederation.

And there is a third player. Between the regions of the galaxy separating the two forces is a third empire of reptilian beings who were attacked without provocation by an earlier Caliphate incursion--and who make no distinction between one group of humans and another. They are determined to eliminate this dangerous ape species from the galaxy once and for all.

The Caliphate thinks it has the element of complete surprise, as do the lizardlike aliens. But the mystic warriors of Tyss have made mental contact with both fleets, and they have a plan which is the only hope to avert a second galaxy-wide war, a war that could shatter the worlds of all three sides.

In the midst of an interstellar war, Yun Tianming found himself on the front lines. Riddled with cancer, he chose to end his life, only to find himself flash frozen and launched into space where the Trisolaran First Fleet awaited. Captured and tortured beyond endurance for decades, Yun eventually succumbed to helping the aliens subjugate humanity in order to save Earth from complete destruction.

Granted a healthy clone body by the Trisolarans, Yun has spent his very long life in exile as a traitor to the human race. Nearing the end of his existence at last, he suddenly receives another reprieve?and another regeneration. A consciousness calling itself The Spirit has recruited him to wage battle against an entity that threatens the existence of the entire universe. But Yun refuses to be a pawn again and makes his own plans to save humanity's future...

In a universe where humans and aliens have formed a loose government called the Earth Alliance, treaties guarantee that humans are subject to alien laws when on alien soil. But alien laws often make no sense, and the punishments vary from loss of life to loss of a first-born child.

Now three cases have collided: a stolen spaceyacht filled with dead bodies, two kidnapped human children, and a human woman on the run, trying to Disappear to avoid alien prosecution. Flint must enforce the law-giving the children to aliens, solving the murders, and arresting the woman for trying to save her own life. But how is a man supposed to enforce laws that are unjust? How can he sacrifice innocents to a system he's not sure he believes in? How can Miles Flint do the right thing in a universe where the right thing is very, very wrong?

This Endeavor Award-winning novel is Flint's first adventure, the story that turns him from a police detective in the Armstrong Dome on the Moon into a Retrieval Artist.

A millennium ago magicians fought a war, and smached the world into a thousand pieces. In partial expiation of these same sorcerers cast spells to set the fragments to floating about each other in the Abyss, to inform them with a proper gravity, and to supply them and the space that seperates them with an atmosphere that men and beasts may breathe. But that was long ago; in a thousand years even sorcerers grow old, and so do their spells. Now the doom that was forstalled is at hand. Already pieces of the Shattered World begin to collide. Soon all will meet, and coalesce, and melt into molten chaos.

Captured by an unknown enemy and forced to wage war on his rivals, the Dragon Queen has found herself hated and feared by all the people of this new land. There is little they can do to hurt her while she has her dragon, but she cannot escape while the magic necklace she is forced to wear remains active - or it will throttle her. And the enemies of her new master are gathering for revenge...

Lost in a body that isn't his own, Berren - the Bloody Judge - continues his search for the man who stole his life. Accompanied by a single Adamantine soldier, they scrabble to survive in a world shaken by the Dragon Queen's attack and suspicious of all those who are strangers. But there is another power inside Berren, one which escapes when he is in danger and has the habit of disintegrating those around him. And that power has its own agenda... One that will lead it to the Dragon Queen, and battle.

The critics, fellow authors and readers alike are agreed - if you love dragons and epic fantasy, Stephen Deas is the writer for you. The man who brought dragons back to their full glory, might and terror.

The stunning sequel to Elizabeth Kerner's Song in the Silence, The Lesser Kindred continues the story of Lanen Kaelar, a young woman who embarked on a search for the great dragons of legend and discovered not only the reality of the myth but her own true love. The course of happiness is not an easy one, however, and Lanen must make some hard choices. Her decisions could spell the salvation of an entire race--but at the cost of all she holds dear.

The hidden history of the Star Trek universe is revealed in this new series charting the seventy years between Captain Kirk's disappearance and the beginning of The Next Generation.

Nearly a decade after Captain Kirk vanished, his protege, Captain Hiraku Sulu of the USS Excelsior, leads a dangerous mission into uncharted political waters. Unprecedented peace talks with the violently xenophobic Tholian Assembly trigger a deadly confrontation aboard the Excelsior. Now Sulu and his crew - including Chekov, Rand, Chapel, Tuvok, and Akaar - are thrust into an unexpected conflict between the Tholians and a mysterious new enemy, the Neyel... whose origins, if revealed, could lead to war with Earth itself. As the Tholians weave a web of vengeance, the Excelsior is flung beyond the galaxy and the crew discovers the hidden truth about the alien Neyel, forcing Sulu to question where his responsibilities lie - with the fragile peace he must preserve, or with the victims of his own world's tragic past.

When Captain Sisko leads the Defiant on a dangerous mission into the Gamma Quadrant to liberate a conquered world, the Bajoran government insists that Kai Winn, the Federation's longtime nemesis, assume complete control of the space station. Left behind by Sisko, Major Kira expects the worst from the Kai's new regime, but even she is caught by surprise when a fleet of alien warships attack Deep Space Nine!

Internal pressures, enormous military expenditures, and the destruction of their primary energy source have brought the Klingon Empire to the verge of catastrophic collapse.

To avert disaster, Gorkon, Chancellor of the Klingon High Council, proposes negotiations between the Federation and Klingon Empire, negotiations that will put an end to the years of hostility between the two powers, and herald a new era of peace and cooperation. Captain James T. Kirk and the U.S.S. Enterprise are dispatched to escort the Chancellor safely into Federation space.

But a treacherous assassination brings negotiations to a sudden halt and places Kirk and Dr. McCoy in the hands of the Federation's greatest enemy. With time running out, Spock and the Enterprise crew work to uncover the deadly secret that threatens to propel the galaxy into the most destructive conflict it has ever known

Investigating the disappearance of a secret Romulan fleet, the U.S.S. Titan, commanded by Captain William Riker, is unexpectedly propelled more than 200,000 light-years into the Small Magellanic Cloud. One of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies, the Cloud is also home to the Neyel, the long-sundered offshoots of Terran humanity, with whom the Federation has had no contact in over eighty years.

Nearby, Riker's uncertain ally, Commander Donatra of the Romulan Warbird Valdore, rescues a young Neyel, the survivor of a mysterious cosmic upheaval that seems at times to be both unraveling and reweaving the very fabric of space...the fulfillment of an apocalyptic vision that has already claimed millions of lives. Titan's science team soon finds evidence that the ravaging of Neyel space is the work of a vast and powerful intelligence: the stirrings of a dormant consciousness that is maintaining the existence of the Small Magellanic Cloud -- and all life within it -- from one moment to the next. And if it should awaken, the consequences are unimaginable.

As Riker considers his options, his new crew struggles with the scientific and philosophical implications of what they've discovered... while the young Neyel in their midst forges a bond with the captain, conjuring old ghosts Riker has yet to lay to rest.

When sensors indicate a possible wormhole nearby, Captain Janeway is eager to investigate, hoping to find a shortcut back to Federation space. Instead, she discovers a star system being systematically pillaged by the warlike Akerians. Janeway has no desire to get caught up in someone else's war, but in order to the check on the possibilities offered by the wormhole -- and to save the innocent people of Veruna Four -- "Voyager" has no choice but to challenge the Akerians.

When the Jedi Order falls, an Inquisitor Rises...

Padawan Iskat Akaris has dedicated her life to traveling the galaxy alongside her master, learning the ways of the Force to become a good Jedi. Despite Iskat's dedication, peace and control have remained elusive, and with each setback, she feels her fellow Jedi grow more distrustful of her. Already uncertain about her future in the Jedi Order, Iskat faces tragedy when her master is killed and the Clone Wars engulf the galaxy in chaos.

Now a general on the front lines contributing to that chaos, she is often reminded: Trust in your training. Trust in the wisdom of the Council. Trust in the Force. Yet as the shadows of doubt take hold, Iskat begins to ask questions that no Jedi is supposed to ask: Questions about her own unknown past. Questions the Jedi Masters would consider dangerous.

As the years pass and the war endures, Iskat's faith in the Jedi wanes. If they would grant her more freedom, she is certain she could do more to protect the galaxy. If they would trust her with more knowledge, she could finally cast aside the shadows that have begun to consume her. When the Jedi Order finally falls, Iskat seizes the chance to forge a path of her own. She embraces the salvation of Order 66.

As an Inquisitor, Iskat finds the freedom she has always craved: to question, to want. And with each strike of her red blade, Iskat moves closer to claiming her new destiny in the Force--whatever the cost.

A year ago, Flynn Cormac and Jubilee Chase made the now infamous Avon Broadcast, calling on the galaxy to witness for their planet, and protect them from destruction. Some say Flynn's a madman, others whisper about conspiracies. Nobody knows the truth. A year before that, Tarver Merendsen and Lilac LaRoux were rescued from a terrible shipwreck - now, they live a public life in front of the cameras, and a secret life away from the world's gaze.

Now, in the center of the universe on the planet of Corinth, all four are about to collide with two new players, who will bring the fight against LaRoux Industries to a head. Gideon Marchant is an eighteen-year-old computer hacker - a whiz kid and an urban warrior. He'll climb, abseil and worm his way past the best security measures to pull off onsite hacks that others don't dare touch.

Sofia Quinn has a killer smile, and by the time you're done noticing it, she's got you offering up your wallet, your car, and anything else she desires. She holds LaRoux Industries responsible for the mysterious death of her father and is out for revenge at any cost.

When a LaRoux Industries security breach interrupts Gideon and Sofia's separate attempts to infiltrate their headquarters, they're forced to work together to escape. Each of them has their own reason for wanting to take down LaRoux Industries, and neither trusts the other. But working together might be the best chance they have to expose the secrets LRI is so desperate to hide.

For the Hunters, the Hunt was a religion. The Sacred Prey, sentient beings collected from all over the galaxy, were literally given a fighting chance--they were allowed to choose weapons from an armory with every imaginable weapon and given time to train. Then they were taken to the place of the Hunt, where death awaited them. Those who survived until the eclipse of the red moon, however, were honored by the Hunters and rewarded with all the wealth they could desire. The trick, of course, was surviving.

In the Raverran Empire, magic is scarce and those born with power are strictly controlled -- taken as children and conscripted into the Falcon army.

Zaira has lived her life on the streets to avoid this fate, hiding her mage mark and thieving to survive. But hers is a rare and dangerous magic, one that threatens the entire Empire.

Lady Amalia Cornaro was never meant to be a Falconer. Heiress and scholar, she was born into a treacherous world of political machinations.

But fate has bound the heir and the mage. And as war looms on the horizon, a single spark could turn their city into a pyre.

Alaric the minstrel seems fated to wander in search of his lost family and heritage. His gift is to be able to transport himself from one place to another, but in a world where magic is viewed with suspicion it is a gift which may place him in mortal danger.

Fallen prophet, master of the elements, and daughter of the supreme Protector, Sanao Mokoya has abandoned the life that once bound her. Once her visions shaped the lives of citizens across the land, but no matter what tragedy Mokoya foresaw, she could never reshape the future. Broken by the loss of her young daughter, she now hunts deadly, sky-obscuring naga in the harsh outer reaches of the kingdom with packs of dinosaurs at her side, far from everything she used to love.

On the trail of a massive naga that threatens the rebellious mining city of Bataanar, Mokoya meets the mysterious and alluring Rider. But all is not as it seems: the beast they both hunt harbors a secret that could ignite war throughout the Protectorate. As she is drawn into a conspiracy of magic and betrayal, Mokoya must come to terms with her extraordinary and dangerous gifts, or risk losing the little she has left to hold dear.

You hold in your hands the most complete and official guide to imaginary ailments ever assembled--each disease carefully documented by the most stellar collection of speculative fiction writers ever to play doctor. Detailed within for your reading and diagnostic pleasure are the frightening, ridiculous, and downright absurdly hilarious symptoms, histories, and possible cures to all the ills human flesh isn't heir to, including Ballistic Organ Disease, Delusions of Universal Grandeur, and Reverse Pinocchio Syndrome.

Lavishly illustrated with cunning examples of everything that can't go wrong with you, the Lambshead Guide provides a healthy dose of good humor and relief for hypochondriacs, pessimists, and lovers of imaginative fiction everywhere. Even if you don't have Pentzler's Lubriciousness or Tian Shan-Gobi Assimilation, the cure for whatever seriousness may ail you is in this remarkable collection.

With the first two books in the Acacia Trilogy, Acacia and The Other Lands, David Anthony Durham has created a vast and engrossing canvas of a world in turmoil, where the surviving children of a royal dynasty are on a quest to realize their fates—and perhaps right ancient wrongs once and for all. As The Sacred Band begins, one of them, Queen Corinn, bestrides the world as a result of her mastery of spells found in the ancient Book of Elenet. Her younger brother, Dariel, has been sent on a perilous mis­sion to the Other Lands, while her sister, Mena, travels to the far north to confront an invasion of the feared race of the Auldek. Their separate trajectories will converge in a series of world-shaping, earth-shattering battles, all ren­dered with vividly imagined detail and in heroic scale.

David Anthony Durham concludes his tale of kingdoms in collision in an exciting fashion. His fictional world is at once realistic and fantastic, informed with an eloquent and dis­tinctively Shakespearean sensibility.

Cullen James is a young woman whose life dictates her dreams-and whose dreams control her life.

In her first dream, she found the perfect man-and the same thing promptly happened in life. Now, she has begun to dream dreams set in Rondua, a fantasy world of high adventure, full of tests of her courage and strength. Slowly and quietly, her dream world is spilling over into her New York City reality and beginning to threaten everything she loves in life. Her friends are gathered to help her-but even her newfound courage may not be enough.

Walker Easterling is a retired actor turned successful screenwriter living in the Vienna of strong coffee, fascinating friends, and mysterious cafes. When he falls in love with Maris York, a beautiful artist who creates cities, his life becomes alive in fantastic and unsettling ways. As Walker's love for Maris grows, his life gets more and more bizarre-he discovers he can see things happening just before they happen, and at the same time feels an incredibly strong tug from his past-so a friend steers him to Venasque, an odd little man reputed to be a powerful shaman. Venasque helps Walker discover and unravel his many interconnected past lives, and it is soon clear that an unresolved conflict from these past lives has resurfaced, and now threatens to undo Walker and Maris's love.

Weber Gregston and Philip Strayhorn are best friends. They were at college together; they struggle as nobodies in Hollywood together. Weber soon becomes the most acclaimed director of his generation. Phil is unrecognised for years, and then makes a series of notorious horror films. He has everything; love, fame, money.

Then he takes a gun and blows his head off. Why? Weber hopes the answer is on the video tapes that Phil has left him. But when he plays them, he finds messages from beyond the grave. Step by step, Weber learns that the evil Phil portrayed in his last film is not just slasher gore. He has created something which threatens his friends' lives. And if Weber doesn't put it right, and fast, that evil will extend far beyond a handful of people in Hollywood.

Exploring love and cruelty, creation and ambition, A Child Across the Sky is a brilliant tale of wonder and fear. It is also one of the most important novels of fantastic fiction in recent years.

Harry Radcliffe is a brilliant prize-winning architect---witty and remarkable. He's also a self-serving opportunist, ready to take advantage of whatever situations, and women, come his way. But now, newly divorced and having had an inexplicable nervous breakdown, Harry is being wooed by the extremely wealthy Sultan of Saru to design a billion-dollar dog museum. In Saru, he finds himself in a world even madder and more unreal than the one he left behind, and as his obsession grows, the powers of magic weave around him, and the implications of his strange undertaking grow more ominous and astounding....

Cult favorite Jonathan Carroll has surpassed himself with his first mainstreamnovel. After Silence is an electrifying, unforgettable novel that unfolds with the logic of a Greek tragedy. Carroll writes with uncompromising honesty about how secrets gnaw and kill when truth is just as devastating.

Four strangers' lives are turned upside down when death comes for a visit

At first it seems like an ordinary dream. Talkative Englishman Ian McGann meets a long-dead acquaintance and asks him questions about the afterlife. But when he awakes, a thick pink scar stretches across his chest. Each subsequent night, as he dreams of death, he asks more questions, understands less, and awakens with increasingly gruesome injuries. When he meets an American traveler in Sardinia and tells him of his experience, the stranger begins having matching dreams--with the same painful results. Across the globe, a former TV icon struggles with leukemia, and a movie star falls in love with an HIV-positive photographer. All are flirting with death, and the more they struggle to understand the mysteries of the afterlife, the more they realize the world is not nearly as simple as they once believed.

In the 22nd century, the first wonder of a brave new world is the Phoenix Space Elevator, designed to give mankind greater access to the frontier beyond Earth. Cooperatively built by the United States and the Eurasian Coalition, the Elevator is also a grand symbol of superpower alliance following a second cold war. And it's just been destroyed.

Fi has awakened the sleeping prince, but the battle for Andar is far from over. The Spindle Witch, the Witch Hunters, and Fi's own Butterfly Curse all stand between them and happily ever after.

Shane has her partner's back. But she's in for the fight of her life against Red, the right hand of the Spindle Witch who she's also, foolishly, hellbent on saving.

Briar Rose would do anything to restore his kingdom. But there's a darkness creeping inside him--a sinister bond to the Spindle Witch he can't escape.

All hopes of restoring Andar rest on deciphering a mysterious book code, finding the hidden city of the last Witches, and uncovering a secret lost for centuries--one that just might hold the key to the Spindle Witch's defeat. If they can all survive that long...

In a glacial lake at the top of the world salvation and destruction await...

Haunted by a ghost from the future Shilly and her man'kin allies are drawn into the snowbound mountains on a mission to save the world. Yod trapped by the Castillo twins in the Void Beneath may finally be breaking free.

Hard on Shilly's heels are Sal and his father and an uneasy alliance of Sky Wardens Panic and foresters. The stakes are high as ancient forces struggle for ascendancy including the strange and alien glast and a dragon with its own agenda. If the Goddess rises from her Tomb the fate of the Ice Eaters will be sealed and they will kill anyone who tries to get in their way...

Six hundred years old, the Imperial Merchant Ship Chathrand is a massive floating outpost of the Empire of Arqual. And it is on its most vital mission yet: to deliver a young woman whose marriage will seal the peace between Arqual and its mortal enemy, the Mzithrin Empire. But Thasha, the young noblewoman in question, may be bringing her swords to the altar.

For the ship's true mission is not peace but war-a war that threatens to rekindle an ancient power long thought lost. As the Chathrand navigates treacherous waters, Thasha must seek unlikely allies-including a magic-cursed deckhand, a stowaway tribe of foot-high warriors, and a singularly heroic rat-and enter a treacherous web of intrigue to uncover the secret of the legendary Red Wolf.

Introducing the princess and the mage.

He doesn't do well with people. She isn't so good with tact. But to survive an imperial invasion the wild, beautiful, fragile desert of Hethria will need them both.

She knows about tactics. He understands reality. They both love Hethria. But what if, to save something you love, you have to change yourself?

Some wars you just can't win alone.

The Red Country is the third book in the Chronicles of Rihannar, successor to Everrran's Bane and The Moving Water, praised by reviewers for the depth of their world-building and attractive characters. In this vividly realised high fantasy, love and magic are tested to the utmost in the struggle for a land whose spell, once experienced, is impossible to escape.

"'The Crusade has begun'...

"There's an old myth in the Archipelago," he went on softly, shaking his head. "A legend, really... I recall it mentioned a Crusade, but those events happened seven centuries ago. We always thought it was only a story."

It has been nine years since John, Jack, and Charles had their great adventure in the Archipelago of Dreams and became the Caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica. Now they have been brought together again to solve a mystery: Someone is kidnapping the children of the Archipelago. And their only clue is a mysterious message delivered by a strange girl with artificial wings: "The Crusade has begun." Worse, they discover that all of the legendary Dragonships have disappeared as well.

The only chance they have to save the world from a centuries-old plot is to seek out the last of the Dragonships -- the Red Dragon -- in a spectacular journey that takes them from Sir James Barrie's Kensington Gardens to the Underneath of the Greek Titans of myth. With friends both familiar and new, they will travel through an extraordinary landscape where history, myth, and fable blend together to tell the oldest story in the world. And along the way, the Caretakers of the Geographica will discover that great deeds alone do not make heroes, and that growing up may be unavoidable... but growing old doesn't have to be.

Contents:

• The Bronze Ring
• Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess
• East of the Sun and West of the Moon
• The Yellow Dwarf
• Little Red Riding Hood
• The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood
• Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper
• Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp
• The Tale of a Youth Who Set Out to Learn What Fear Was
• Rumpelstiltskin
• Beauty and the Beast
• The Master Maid
• Why the Sea Is Salt
• The Master Cat or Puss in Boots
• Felicia and the Pot of Pinks
• The White Cat
• The Water-Lily. The Gold-Spinners
• The Terrible Head
• The Story of Pretty Goldilocks
• The History of Whittington
• The Wonderful Sheep
• Little Thumb
• The Forty Thieves
• Hansel and Gretel
• Snow-White and Rose-Red
• The Goose-Girl
• Toads and Diamonds
• Prince Darling
• Blue Beard
• Trusty John
• The Brave Little Tailor
• A Voyage to Lilliput
• The Princess on the Glass Hill
• The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou
• The History of Jack the Giant-Killer
• The Black Bull of Norroway
• The Red Etin

Contents:

• The Twelve Dancing Princesses
• The Princess Mayblossom
• Soria Moria Castle
• The Death of Koschei the Deathless
• The Black Thief and Knight of the Glen
• The Master Thief
• Brother and Sister
• Princess Rosette
• The Enchanted Pig
• The Norka
• The Wonderful Birch
• Jack and the Beanstalk
• The Little Good Mouse
• Graciosa and Percinet
• The Three Princesses of Whiteland
• The Voice of Death
• The Six Sillies
• Kari Woodengown
• Drakestail
• The Ratcatcher
• The True History of Little Goldenhood
• The Golden Branch
• The Three Dwarfs
• Dapplegrim
• The Enchanted Canary
• The Twelve Brothers
• Rapunzel
• The Nettle Spinner
• Farmer Weatherbeard
• Mother Holle
• Minnikin
• Bushy Bride
• Snowdrop
• The Golden Goose
• The Seven Foals
• The Marvellous Musician
• The Story of Sigurd

Contents:

• The Blue Bird
• The Half-Chick
• The Story of Caliph Stork
• The Enchanted Watch
• Rosanella
• Sylvain and Jocosa
• Fairy Gifts
• Prince Narcissus and the Princess Potentilla
• Prince Featherhead and the Princess Celandine
• The Three Little Pigs
• Heart of Ice
• The Enchanted Ring
• The Snuff-box
• The Golden Blackbird
• The Little Soldier
• The Magic Swan
• The Dirty Shepherdess
• The Enchanted Snake
• The Biter Bit
• King Kojata
• Prince Fickle and Fair Helena
• Puddocky
• The Story of Hok Lee and the Dwarfs
• The Story of the Three Bears
• Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida
• Little One-eye, Little Two-eyes, and Little Three-eyes
• Jorinde and Joringel
• Allerleirauh; or, the Many-furred Creature
• The Twelve Huntsmen
• Spindle, Shuttle, and Needle
• The Crystal Coffin
• The Three Snake-leaves
• The Riddle
• Jack my Hedgehog
• The Golden Lads
• The White Snake
• The Story of a Clever Tailor
• The Golden Mermaid
• The War of the Wolf and the Fox
• The Story of the Fisherman and his Wife
• The Three Musicians
• The Three Dogs

Contents:

• Cat and Mouse in Partnership
• The Six Swans
• The Dragon of the North
• Story of the Emperor's New Clothes
• The Golden Crab
• The Iron Stove
• The Dragon and his Grandmother
• The Donkey Cabbage
• The Little Green Frog
• The Seven-headed Serpent
• The Grateful Beasts
• The Giants and the Herd-boy
• The Invisible Prince
• The Crow
• How Six Men Travelled Through the Wide World
• The Wizard King
• The Nixy
• The Glass Mountain
• Alphege, or the Green Monkey
• Fairer-than-a-Fairy
• The Three Brothers
• The Boy and the Wolves, or the Broken Promise
• The Glass Axe
• The Dead Wife
• In the Land of Souls
• The White Duck
• The Witch and Her Servants
• The Magic Ring
• The Flower Queen's Daughter
• The Flying Ship
• The Snow-daughter and the Fire-son
• The Story of King Frost
• The Death of the Sun-hero
• The Witch
• The Hazel-nut Child
• The Story of Big Klaus and Little Klaus
• Prince Ring
• The Swineherd
• How to tell a True Princess
• The Blue Mountains
• The Tinder-box
• The Witch in the Stone Boat
• Thumbelina
• The Nightingale
• Hermod and Hadvor
• The Steadfast Tin-soldier
• Blockhead Hans
• A Story about a Darning-needle

Contents:

• The Cat's Elopement
• How the Dragon was Tricked
• The Goblin and the Grocer
• The House in the Wood
• Urashimataro and the Turtle
• The Slaying of the Tanuki
• The Flying Trunk
• The Snow Man
• The Shirt-Collar
• The Princess in the Chest
• The Three Brothers
• The Snow-queen
• The Fir-Tree
• Hans, the Mermaid's Son
• Peter Bull
• The Bird 'Grip'
• Snowflake
• I Know What I Have Learned
• The Cunning Shoemaker
• The King who would have a Beautiful Wife
• Catherine and her Destiny
• How the Hermit helped to win the King's Daughter
• The Water of Life
• The Wounded Lion
• The Man without a Heart
• The Two Brothers
• Master and Pupil
• The Golden Lion
• The Sprig of Rosemary
• The White Dove
• The Troll's Daughter
• Esben and the Witch
• Princess Minon-Minette
• Maiden Bright-eye
• The Merry Wives
• King Lindworm
• The Jackal, the Dove, and the Panther
• The Little Hare
• The Sparrow with the Slit Tongue
• The Story of Ciccu
• Don Giovanni de la Fortuna

Contents:

• Donkey Skin
• The Goblin Pony
• An Impossible Enchantment
• The Story of Dschemil and Dachemila
• Janni and the Draken
• The Partnership of the Thief and the Liar
• Fortunatus and his Purse
• The Goat-faced Girl
• What Came of Picking Flowers
• The Story of Bensurdatu
• The Magician's Horse
• The Little Gray Man
• Herr Lazarus and the Draken
• The Story of the Queen of the Flowery Isles
• Udea and her Seven Brothers
• The White Wolf
• Mohammed with the Magic Finger
• Bobino
• The Dog and the Sparrow
• The Story of the Three Sons of Hali
• The Story of the Fair Circassians
• The Jackal and the Spring
• The Bear
• The Sunchild
• The Daughter of Buk Ettemsuch
• Laughing Eye and Weeping Eye, or the Limping Fox
• The Unlooked for Prince
• The Simpleton
• The Street Musicians
• The Twin Brothers
• Cannetella
• The Ogre
• A Fairy's Blunder
• Long, Broad, and Quickeye
• Prunella

Contents:

• A Tale Of the Tontlawald
• The Finest Liar in the World
• The Story of Three Wonderful Beggars
• Schippeitaro
• The Three Princes and their Beasts
• The Goat's Ears of the Emperor Trojan
• The Nine Pea-hens and the Golden Apples
• The Lute Player
• The Grateful Prince
• The Child who came from an Egg
• Stan Bolovan
• The Two Frogs
• The Story of a Gazelle
• How a Fish swam in the Air and a Hare in the Water
• Two in a Sack
• The Envious Neighbour
• The Fairy of the Dawn
• The Enchanted Knife
• Jesper Who Herded the Hares
• The Underground Workers
• The History of Dwarf Long Nose
• The Nunda, Eater of People
• The Story of Hassebu
• The Maiden with the Wooden Helmet
• The Monkey and the Jelly-fish
• The Headless Dwarfs
• The Young Man Who Would Have His Eyes Opened
• The Boys with the Golden Stars
• The Frog
• The Princess Who Was Hidden Underground
• The Girl Who Pretended to be a Boy
• The Story of Halfman
• The Prince Who Wanted to See the World
• Virgilius the Sorcerer
• Mogarzea and his Son

Contents:

• Lovely Ilonka
• Lucky Luck
• The Hairy Man
• To Your Good Health!
• The Story of the Seven Simons
• The Language of Beasts
• The Boy Who Could Keep a Secret
• The Prince and the Dragon
• Little Wildrose
• Tiidu the Piper
• Paperarello
• The Gifts of the Magician
• The Strong Prince
• The Treasure Seeker
• The Cottager and his Cat
• The Prince Who Would Seek Immortality
• The Stone-cutter
• The Gold-bearded Man
• Tritill, Litill, and the Birds
• The Three Robes
• The Six Hungry Beasts
• How the Beggar Boy turned into Count Piro
• The Rogue and the Herdsman
• Eisenkopf
• The Death of Abu Nowas and of his Wife
• Motikatika
• Niels and the Giants
• Shepherd Paul
• How the Wicked Tanuki was Punished
• The Crab and the Monkey
• The Horse Gullfaxi and the Sword Gunnfoder
• The Story of the Sham Prince, or the Ambitious Tailor
• The Colony of Cats
• How to find out a True Friend
• Clever Maria
• The Magic Kettle

Contents:

• What the Rose Did to the Cypress
• Ball-Carrier and the Bad One
• How Ball-Carrier Finished his Task
• The Bunyip
• Father Grumbler
• The Story of the Yara
• The Cunning Hare
• The Turtle and his Bride
• How Geirald the Coward Was Punished
• Habogi
• How the Little Brother Set Free his Big Brothers
• The Sacred Milk of Koumongoe
• The Wicked Wolverine
• The Husband of the Rat's Daughter
• The Mermaid and the Boy
• Pivi and Kabo
• The Elf Maiden
• How Some Wild Animals Became Tame Ones
• Fortune and the Wood-Cutter
• The Enchanted Head
• The Sister of the Sun
• The Prince and the Three Fates
• The Fox and the Lapp
• Kisa the Cat
• The Lion and the Cat
• Which was the Foolishest?
• Asmund and Signy
• Rubezahl
• Story of the King Who Would be Stronger than Fate
• Story of Wali Dad the Simple-Hearted
• Tale of a Tortoise and of a Mischievous Monkey
• The Knights of the Fish

Contents:

• The Story of the Hero Makoma
• The Magic Mirror
• Story of the King Who Would See Paradise
• How Isuro the Rabbit Tricked Gudu
• Ian, the Soldier's Son
• The Fox and the Wolf
• How Ian Direach Got the Blue Falcon
• The Ugly Duckling
• The Two Caskets
• The Goldsmith's Fortune
• The Enchanted Wreath
• The Foolish Weaver
• The Clever Cat
• The Story of Manus Pinkel the Thief
• The Adventures of a Jackal
• The Adventures of the Jackal's Eldest Son
• The Adventures of the Younger Son of the Jackal
• The Three Treasures of the Giants
• The Rover of the Plain
• The White Doe
• The Girl-Fish
• The Owl and the Eagle
• The Frog and the Lion Fairy
• The Adventures of Covan the Brown-Haired
• The Princess Bella-Flor
• The Bird of Truth
• The Mink and the Wolf
• Adventures of an Indian Brave
• How the Stalos were Tricked
• Andras Baive
• The White Slipper
• The Magic Book

Contents:

• Madschun
• The Blue Parrot
• Geirlug The King's Daughter
• The Story of Little King Loc
• A Long-Bow Story
• Jackal or Tiger?
• The Comb and the Collar
• The Thanksgiving of the Wazir
• Samba the Coward
• Kupti and Imani
• The Strange Adventures of Little Maia
• Diamond Cut Diamond
• The Green Knight
• The Five Wise Words of the Guru
• The Golden-Headed Fish
• Dorani
• The Satin Surgeon
• The Billy Goat and the King
• The Story of Zoulvisia
• Grasp All, Lose All
• The Fate of the Turtle
• The Snake Prince
• The Prince and the Princess in the Forest
• The Clever Weaver
• The Boy Who Found Fear At Last
• He Wins Who Waits
• The Steel Cane
• The Punishment of the Fairy Gangana
• The Silent Princess

Contents:

• The Shifty Lad
• The False Prince and the True
• The Jogi's Punishment
• The Heart of a Monkey
• The Fairy Nurse
• A Lost Paradise
• How Brave Walter Hunted Wolves
• The King of the Waterfalls
• A French Puck
• The Three Crowns
• The Story of a Very Bad Boy
• The Brown Bear of Norway
• Little Lasse
• 'Moti'
• The Enchanted Deer
• A Fish Story
• The Wonderful Tune
• The Rich Brother and the Poor Brother
• The One-Handed Girl
• The Bones of Djulung
• The Sea King's Gift
• The Raspberry Worm
• The Stones of Plouhinec
• The Castle of Kerglas
• The Battle of the Birds
• The Lady of the Fountain
• The Four Gifts
• The Groac'h of the Isle of Lok
• The Escape of the Mouse
• The Believing Husbands
• The Hoodie-Crow
• The Brownie of the Lake
• The Winning of Olwen

Having rebuilt the NordornLand from rubble, Ashen and Gaurin rule justly and fairly over a reinvigorated land. Beloved by their kingdom, they now turn their attention to the next generation of Nordorn royalty.

Responsible Bjaudin, heir to the throne, focuses on his studies and Hegrin, Queen of Rendel, rears her own growing brood. But the youngest siblings, Elin and Mikkel, seem destined to alter the future of the NordornLand--for better or for worse.

Thirteen-year-old Elin craves power, and believes her new alliance with the evil Ysa may help her achieve it.

Eleven-year-old Mikkel stows away on a Sea-Rover ship, hoping for a brief adventure. But when the ship is attacked, Mikkel is taken prisoner, and soon his bonds to the NordornLand are the last thing on his mind.

Through births and deaths, celebration and wars, Ashen and Gaurin have worked tirelessly to bring peace and prosperity to their kingdom. But it appears that this era of peace may be at its end. This final installment of the Cycle of Oak, Yew, Ash, and Rowan brings the series to a thrilling climax worthy of these fascinating characters.

On the planet of Darkover, the role of women is extremely circumscribed. The women of the Domains are almost entirely ruled by their male relatives, while the women of the Dry Towns are actually chained at the wrists to prevent them from assuming any independence. One of the few ways a woman can gain a measure of freedom is to join the popularly reviled Guild of Renunciates, an organization sworn to reject the oppression--and the protection--of men.

Jaelle n'ha Melora, the daughter of a Domains noblewoman and a Dry Towner, is a Renunciate. Magdalen Lorne, who was raised on Darkover, is an Intelligence operative for the Terran Empire. When Magda's ex-husband is kidnapped by Darkovan bandits, the paths of Jaelle and Magda cross, with profound implications for both women--and both worlds.

She's a revolutionary. Humanity is running out of options. Habitable planets are being destroyed as quickly as they're found and Naira Sharp thinks she knows the reason why. The all-powerful Mercator family has been controlling the exploration of the universe for decades, and exploiting any materials they find along the way under the guise of helping humanity's expansion. But Naira knows the truth, and she plans to bring the whole family down from the inside.

He's the heir to the dynasty. Tarquin Mercator never wanted to run a galaxy-spanning business empire. He just wanted to study rocks and read books. But Tarquin's father has tasked him with monitoring the settlement of a new planet, and he doesn't really have a choice in the matter.

Disguised as Tarquin's new bodyguard, Naira plans to destroy the settlement ship before they make land. But neither of them expects to end up stranded on a dead planet. To survive and keep her secret, Naira will have to join forces with the man she's sworn to hate. And together they will uncover a plot that's bigger than both of them.

Naira and Tarquin have escaped vicious counter-revolutionaries, misprinted monsters and the pull of a dying planet. Now, bound together to find the truth behind the blight that has been killing habitable planets, they need to hunt out the Mercator family secrets.

But, when the head of Mercator disappears, taking the universe's remaining supply of starship fuel with him, chaos breaks loose between the ruling families. Naira's revolution must be put aside for the sake of humanity's immediate survival.

Naira and Tarquin have found a new home on Seventh Cradle. But the peace they've built is short-lived as mysterious assailants ambush the settlement and Naira is haunted by visions of a monstrous future. Catastrophe strikes when Tarquin uncovers a plot to bring about the end of the universe. As humanity races against the clock to prevent their extinction, old secrets come to light and loyalties fracture, and Naira realizes she may be the key to saving the world - or ending it.

Sulema Ja'Akari, heir to the throne of the Dragon King, lies near death, imprisoned by her half brother Pythos. To survive, she must agree to rescue the one person who holds the key to unseating the usurper--a quest that will take Sulema across the vast, apocalyptic desert of the Seared Lands.

Overwhelmed by the responsibility, Sulema seeks to flee, but is captured and cast into the arena. There she must fight to the death against Kishah, whose very name means "vengeance." Kishah, who is Sulama's closest friend and fellow warrior, Hannei.

Across the world, vast forces gather. Fleeing a swarm of invaders, the child queen Maika seeks to lead her people across the wasteland to safety. Jian the half-breed prince musters an army from the Twilight Lands, while Ismai the Lich King gathers an undead horde, determined to reclaim the Dragon crown.

Yet the greatest threat lies below. Sajani the earth dragon stirs. If she wakes, the world will be destroyed. Only the heir to the Dragon King may sing Sajani back to sleep... if there still is time.

New York Times bestselling authors David and Leigh Eddings, creators of such grand fantasy epics as The Belgariad and The Malloreon, continue the national bestselling saga of The Dreamers with an epic new novel of gods and mortals who must defy the dark forces that would destroy them all... Flush from their narrow victory over the horrific Vlagh, Longbow and his companions are drawn to a pastoral territory in south Dhrall, confident that they will thwart the next assault by their inhuman foe. But on the border of the Wasteland, the Vlagh is breeding a monstrous new army of venomous bat-bugs and armored spiders. These grotesque legions threaten to overwhelm the allies, who are further shocked by a prophecy delivered by the Dreamers: an invasion by a new, second army. A force of armed acolytes approaches to plunder this unspoiled land in a global holy war. Now farmers and hunters, soldiers and madmen, mortals and gods-all charge to a battle that will decide the fate of the world.

WELCOME TO HELL

The prison ship Perdition, a floating city where the Conglomerate's most dangerous criminals are confined for life, orbits endlessly around a barren asteroid.

Life inside is even more bleak. Hailed as the Dread Queen, inmate Dresdemona "Dred" Devoscontrols one of Perdition's six territories, bordered on both sides by would-be kings eager to challenge her claim. Keeping them at bay requires constant vigilance, as well as a steady influx of new recruits to replace the fallen. Survival is a constant battle, and death is the only escape.

Of the newest convicts, only one is worth Dred's attention. The mercenary Jael, with his deadly gaze and attitude, may be the most dangerous criminal onboard. His combat skill could give her the edge she needs, if he doesn't betray her first. Unfortunately, that's what he does best. Winning Jael's allegiance will be a challenge, but failure could be worse than death...

The Conglomerate's most dangerous convicts have made the prison ship Perdition their home. And they will defend it...

Perdition is under siege. Mercenaries have boarded the station with orders to take control of the facility--and execute the prisoners. Their commander is offering full pardons to the first five inmates willing to help the mercs complete their mission.

Dresdemona "Dred" Devos hasn't survived hard time just to surrender to the Conglomerate's armored thugs. Leading a ragtag army of inmates, Dred and her champion, Jael, wage a bloody guerilla war of chaos and carnage against impossible odds. But no matter how dire the outlook, the Dread Queen never backs down...

All hell is breaking loose in the edge-of-your-seat follow-up to Havoc and Perdition from New York Times bestselling author Ann Aguirre...

The prison ship Perdition has become a post-battle charnel house with only a handful of Dred's soldiers still standing and now being hunted by Silence's trained tongueless assassins. Forging an uneasy alliance with mercenary commander Vost--who is their only chance at escape--the Dread Queen will do whatever it takes to end her life sentence on Perdition and keep the survivors alive long enough to cobble together a transport capable of getting them off station.

If Dred and her crew can win the deadly game of cat and mouse, the payoff is not only life but freedom--a prize sweeter than their wildest dreams. Yet the sadistic Silence would rather destroy Perdition than let a single soul slip from her grasp...

All Magnus Bane wanted was a vacation--a lavish trip across Europe with Alec Lightwood, the Shadowhunter who against all odds is finally his boyfriend. But as soon as the pair settles in Paris, an old friend arrives with news about a demon-worshipping cult called the Crimson Hand that is bent on causing chaos around the world. A cult that was apparently founded by Magnus himself. Years ago. As a joke.

Now Magnus and Alec must race across Europe to track down the Crimson Hand before the cult can cause any more damage. Demons are now dogging their every step, and it is becoming harder to tell friend from foe. As their quest for answers becomes increasingly dire, Magnus and Alec will have to trust each other more than ever--even if it means revealing the secrets they've both been keeping.

What chance does a young woman stand against the world's supreme evil? Lorness Carol Rafel was prophesied to destroy the unfathomably dangerous Kragan. But as the magic wielder's monstrous horde marches on Endar Pass, razing everything in its wake, Carol fears that Kragan is not only unstoppable but that he has risen from his tomb more powerful than ever.

For Kragan, knowing the millennia-old prophecy is his greatest weapon. He has shielded himself from attack with primordial and insidious magics that serve him well, and if he finds the fragments of an ancient trident, it will grant him godhood. Only one thing stands in his way: the woman foreordained to destroy him.

Now, stirred by visions of a doomed future, Carol and her companions must risk their very souls and sanity to defeat the tyrant mage. However, in the face of Kragan's machinations, their seeming triumph over the enemy might seal the land's catastrophic fate.

In The Phoenix Endangered, second in The Enduring Flame, Tiercel, a budding High Mage, and Harrier, a reluctant Knight-Mage, develop greater power—and learn of the evils of war when they see the devastation caused by the fanatical armies of the Wild Mage Bisochim.

The desert tribespeople led by young Shaiara flee Bisochim's evil, seeking a legendary oasis deep in the desert—a refuge that may hold the key to stopping Bisochim and preserving the Balance between Light and Darkness... or that may be the cause of Light's ultimate downfall.

Rudi is a cook in a Kraków restaurant, but when his boss asks Rudi to help a cousin escape from the country he's trapped in, a new career - part spy, part people-smuggler - begins. Following multiple economic crises and a devastating flu pandemic, Europe has fractured into countless tiny nations, duchies, polities and republics. Recruited by the shadowy organisation Les Coureurs des Bois, Rudi is schooled in espionage, but when a training mission to The Line, a sovereign nation consisting of a trans-Europe railway line, goes wrong, he is arrested and beaten, and Coureur Central must attempt a rescue.

With so many nations to work in, and identities to assume, Rudi is kept busy travelling across Europe. But when he is sent to smuggle someone out of Berlin and finds a severed head inside a locker instead, a conspiracy begins to wind itself around him. With kidnapping, double-crosses and a map that constantly re-draws itself, Europe in Autumn is a science fiction thriller like no other.

Europe is crumbling. The Xian Flu pandemic and ongoing economic crises have fractured the European Union, the borderless Continent of the Schengen Agreement is a distant memory, and new nations are springing up everywhere, some literally overnight. For an intelligence officer like Jim, it's a nightmare. Every week or so a friendly power spawns, a new and unknown national entity which may or may not be friendly to England's interests; it's hard to keep on top of it all. But things are about to get worse for Jim. A stabbing on a London bus pitches him into a world where his intelligence service is preparing for war with another universe, and a man has come who may hold the key to unlocking the mystery.

Union has come. The Community is now the largest nation in Europe; trains run there from as far afield as London and Prague. It is an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity. So what is the reason for a huge terrorist outrage? Why do the Community and Europe meet in secret, exchanging hostages? And who are Les Coureurs des Bois? Along with a motley crew of strays and mafiosi and sleeper agents, Rudi sets out to answer these questions -- only to discover that the truth lies both closer to home and farther away than anyone could possibly imagine.

Alice works at the Scottish Embassy in Tallinn in Estonia as a member of the Cultural Section. When two men bring her the jewelled skull of a Scottish saint her world gets turned on its head, and she becomes the latest recruit to Les Coureurs des Bois.

On a Greek island Benno is just one of hundreds of refuges dreaming of a new life in Continental Europe. After hatching an audacious escape plan, he may just get his dream, but at the price of serving some powerful mysterious new masters.

Rudi and Rupert, the seasoned Coureur and the scientist in exile from a pocket universe, discover that someone they thought long dead is very much still alive. Not only that, but the now defunct Line - the railway that once bisected the European continent - may be being used for nefarious means.

They are each other's fiercest love, greatest danger, and only hope.

Séverin and his team members might have successfully thwarted the Fallen House, but victory came at a terrible cost -- one that still haunts all of them. Desperate to make amends, Séverin pursues a dangerous lead to find a long lost artifact rumored to grant its possessor the power of God.

Their hunt lures them far from Paris, and into the icy heart of Russia where crystalline ice animals stalk forgotten mansions, broken goddesses carry deadly secrets, and a string of unsolved murders makes the crew question whether an ancient myth is a myth after all.

As hidden secrets come to the light and the ghosts of the past catch up to them, the crew will discover new dimensions of themselves. But what they find out may lead them down paths they never imagined.

A tale of love and betrayal as the crew risks their lives for one last job.

Returning to the dark and glamorous 19th century world of her New York Times instant bestseller, The Gilded Wolves, Roshani Chokshi dazzles us with another riveting tale as full of mystery and danger as ever in The Silvered Serpents.

16 stories by a master of science fiction. Space travel, time machines, runaway robots, wit, insanity, intelligence and non-stop imagination, Alfed Bester has crammed all of these and more into his new, dynamic 2-in-1 volume Starlight. Containing all the stories from both The Light Fantastic and Star Light, Star Bright, each tale in this mammoth collection opens up new vistas of wonder and amazement.

Contents:

• 5,271,009 - (1954) - novelette
• Ms. Found in a Champagne Bottle - (1968) - shortstory
• Fondly Fahrenheit - (1954) - novelette
• Comment on Fondly Fahrenheit - (1970) - essay
• The Four-Hour Fugue - (1974) - shortstory
• The Men Who Murdered Mohammed - (1958) - shortstory
• Disappearing Act - (1953) - shortstory
• Hell Is Forever - (1942) - novella

Contents:

• "Adam and No Eve"
• "Time Is the Traitor"
• "Oddie And Id"
• "Hobson's Choice"
• "Star Light, Star Bright"
• "They Don't Make Life Like They Used To"
• "Of Time and Third Avenue"
• "The Pi Man"
• "Something Up There Likes Me"

There's no such thing as too much preparation!

The fate of the S-ranked world Gaeabrande rests with the novice goddess Ristarte. As she thumbs through the piles of duller-than-dull résumés for potential Heroes to summon, she hits the jackpot with Seiya Ryuuguuin, whose stats are so high for a level-1 Hero that he's practically cheating! (He's also pretty easy on the eyes.) But there's a catch. Seiya is cautious to a fault. If he goes to a weapons and armor shop, he asks for three sets of armor: one to wear, a spare, and a spare for the spare. Just in case. He always buys ridiculous amounts of supplies, trains like he's racing to max level, and won't hesitate to use his strongest skills even on a simple slime. With a Hero like Seiya on the job, which will run out first-the Demon Lord's forces or Ristarte's sanity...? The tale of the overpowered yet overly cautious Hero and the goddess who can't decide if she wants to kiss him or smack him begins!

Everything's gonna be okay...

The difficulty ramps up as Gaeabrande proves just how tough an S-ranked world can be! But whether his foe is a gargantuan lord of the flies boasting unparalleled speed and agility or an invulnerable god of death who makes all previous enemies seem like jokes, Seiya does what he does best... He retreats to the spirit world and trains like there's no tomorrow. Along his never-ending road to self-improvement, he encounters a new deity with a certain... quirk, masters an ability so far beyond overpowered that it's completely broken, and makes Rista extremely upset! Again! The kid gloves (and weighted bracelets) come off as the battle with the Demon Lord looms just beyond the horizon. But for all the training he's done, will Seiya be perfectly prepared this time...?

When the going gets tough, the tough get tougher!

Well, this isn't the homecoming anyone expected... After liberating Gaeabrande from the tyranny of the Demon Lord, Seiya and Rista are rewarded (punished, really) with a return trip to Ixphoria. But due to the pair's failure to save the B-ranked world, the baddies have leveled up and plunged Ixphoria into chaos, transforming it into an SS-ranked hellscape! With the added penalty of Rista's healing being sealed and no access to the Hero class, Seiya must now save the world as... a Jolly Piper...?

Robots versus Golems!

>Rampaging past his limits in his new Berserk Mode, Seiya emerges victorious from the battle with the Beast Emperor, Grandleon! But his struggles in the revamped world of Ixphoria have only just begun... Next on the chopping block is the Machine Emperor, Oxerio. His high-tech arsenal, replete with tens of thousands of killing machines, threatens to wipe Termine Kingdom off the map! Fortunately, Seiya's got a secret weapon! ...Sort of.

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN...

Beast Emperor Grandleon, Machine Emperor Oxerio, and Vengeful Empress Celemonic have all been defeated by the cautious Hero. As Seiya, Rista, Kiriko, and Jonde travel to the west to face the Death Emperor, the last of the Demon Lord's generals, though, they are wholly unprepared for what they find: a town full of happy people, all living peaceful lives. And why wouldn't they be? Accordingto them, the Demon Lord was defeated over a year ago by none other than Seiya Ryuuguuin himself! As the party's heads flood with questions, a familiar silhouette appears on the horizon...

The invasion of a malevolent deity has brought the spirit world to its knees!

Rista falls unconscious amid the turmoil, and when she next opens her eyes, she finds herself in a distorted version of Gaeabrande. Here, humans and demons have joined forces against a much greater foe, forging alliances as bizarre as Rosalie Roseguard and Chaos Machina! Nothing makes sense anymore, so why not double down on the madness? In order to save the spirit world, Seiya is summoned once again, and this time, his base of operations will be... the underworld!

I'M SORRY.

Feeling ill-prepared for the looming battle against his former pupil, Seiya returns to the underworld to acquire some new skills. But every boon gained from this realm comes at a cost--Rista's dignity. First, his group hones their stealth abilities by learning invisibility magic. Then, Seiya ventures to the Infinite Corridor to harness the powers of darkness! They'll need more than a couple new tricks to defeat Mash, the Dragon Lord, though. To gain an edge in the fight to come, they will have to peer into the past and learn the tragic origins of Warped Gaeabrande...

Believing Terra has already fallen to the Warmaster, Primarch Roboute Guilliman founds the Imperium Secundus.

The unthinkable has happened – Terra has fallen to the traitor forces of Warmaster Horus! Nothing else could explain the sudden disappearance of the Astronomican’s guiding light at the heart of the Imperium, or so Roboute Guilliman would believe. Ever the pragmatist, he has drawn all his forces to Ultramar and begun construction of the new empire known as Imperium Secundus. Even with many of his primarch brothers at his side, he still faces war from without and intrigue from within – with the best of intentions, were the full truth to be known it would likely damn them all as traitors for all eternity.

The third novel in The Horus Heresy: Primarchs series, a brand new sequence of novels focused on the superhuman sons of the Emperor.

Lord of the mystical and uncanny, Magnus the Red has long studied the ancient crafts of sorcery. A psyker without peer, save only for the Emperor himself, he commands his loyal followers of the Thousand Sons Legion in the Great Crusade, always vigilant for any lost knowledge they might recover from the remains of dead human civilisations. Now, fighting alongside his brother Perturabo of the Iron Warriors, Magnus begins to foresee an approaching nexus of fate.

Will he remain true to their mutual aims, or divert his own efforts towards furthering his own mastery of the warp?

Humans face two enemies--the implacably powerful Charonians who kidnapped the Earth, and the mysterious Adversary, before whom the Charonians quake in fear. Can an unlikely combination of scientists, corpses, dictators, and professional troublemakers withstand both threats and return the Earth to its proper place in the Solar System?

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Solaris Rising: The New Solaris Book of Science Fiction (2011), edited by Ian Whates. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Ninth Annual Collection (2012), edited by Gardner Dozois. The story is included in the collection Sleeps with Angels (2015).

When Alex Dolan is hired by multibillionaire Stanislaw Clayton to write a book about the Sioux Crossing Supercollider, it seems like a dream job.

Then something goes wrong at the site. Very wrong.

After the incident, Dolan finds himself changed, and the only one who can stop the disaster from destroying us all.

Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is the debut novel from a major new voice in fantasy fiction.

Welcome to the strangest, most distinctive future ever imagined by a science fiction writer. An insterstellar empire ruled by the mysterious Lords of the Instrumentality, whose access to the drug stroon from the planet Norstrilia confers on them virtual immortality. A world in which wealthy and leisured humanity is served by the underpeople, genetically engineered animals turned into the semblance of people. A world in which the great ships which sail between the stars are eventually supplanted by the mysterious, instantaneous technique of planoforming. A world of wonder and myth, and extraordinary imagination.

(Note that this collection was originally published in 1975 as The Best of Cordwainer Smith, the 3rd book in Ballantine's Classic Library of Science Fiction. It was then republished as The Rediscovery of Man in 1988 as VGSF Classics #25, then again in 1999 as a Gollancz SF Masterworks edition. It is a different collection from the NESFA press collection The Rediscovery of Man: The Complete Short Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith, which has different contents).

Table of Contents:

• Cordwainer Smith: The Shaper of Myths - essay by John J. Pierce
• The Instrumentality of Mankind (timeline) - essay by John J. Pierce
• Scanners Live in Vain (1950) - novelette
• The Lady Who Sailed the Soul (1960) - novelette by Genevieve Linebarger and Cordwainer Smith
• The Game of Rat and Dragon (1955) - short story
• The Burning of the Brain (1958) - short story
• Golden the Ship Was -- Oh! Oh! Oh! (1959) - short story by Genevieve Linebarger and Cordwainer Smith
• The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal (1964) - short story
• The Dead Lady of Clown Town (1964) - novella
• Under Old Earth (1966) - novelette
• Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons (1961) - novelette
• Alpha Ralpha Boulevard (1961) - novelette
• The Ballad of Lost C'mell (1962) - novelette
• A Planet Named Shayol (1961) - novelette

Aoife Grayson must face death to win back Dean--the love who was ripped from the Iron Lands of the living when he was shot in the arctic north. But getting to the Deadlands is something that Aoife can't do on her own. And if she can find a way there, Tremaine would surely never allow it. He has sworn to keep her in the Thorn Lands, the fairie home of her mother, Nerissa. But Aoife is determined to find her way out. And she has no trouble if that means she has to kill Tremain and his queen to do it.

Since their mother's death, Carter and Sadie have become near strangers. While Sadie has lived with her grandparents in London, her brother has traveled the world with their father, the brilliant Egyptologist, Dr Julius Kane.

One night, Dr Kane brings the siblings together for a "research experiment" at the British Museum, where he hopes to set things right for his family. Instead, he unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes him to oblivion and forces the children to flee for their lives.

Soon, Sadie and Carter discover that the gods of Egypt are waking, and the worst of them, Set, has his sights on the Kanes. To stop him, the siblings embark on a dangerous journey across the globe - a quest that brings them ever closer to the truth about their family, and their links to a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharaohs.

Between the desert plains of Karesia and the icy wastes of Ranen, there once lay the kingdom of Ro. Its lands were fertile. Its men and women were prosperous. Their god - the One - was satisfied.

But then the men of Ro grew unwatchful, and the armies of the south took their chance. Now the Seven Sisters rule the Kingdom, enslaving their people with sorcery of pleasure and blood. Soon, they will appoint a new god. The Long War rumbles on ... but the Red Prince has yet to enter the field of battle.

ALL THAT WAS DEAD WILL RISE.

ALL THAT NOW LIVES WILL FALL...

Hugo Award-winning author Elizabeth Bear returns to the epic fantasy world of the Lotus Kingdoms with The Red-Stained Wings, the sequel to The Stone in the Skull, taking the Gage into desert lands under a deadly sky to answer the riddle of the Stone in the Skull.

The Gage and the Dead Man brought a message from the greatest wizard of Messaline to the ruling queen of Sarathai, one of the Lotus Kingdoms. But the message was a riddle, and the Lotus Kingdoms are at war.

The tiny Duchy of Grand Fenwick decides the only way to survive an economic downturn is to declare war on the United States and lose to get foreign aid - but things don't go according to plan.

The Mouse That Roared was originally published as a six-part serial in the Saturday Evening Post, and was made into a successful feature film starring Peter Sellers.

Spurred by the Count of Mountjoy, who wants proper plumbing for the kingdom and a Russian sable coat for Her Grace, and by Dr. Kokintz, who sees a potential new source of energy by mixing iron filings and Fenwick Pinot wine, a loan from the U.S. is arranged. A rocket is fired and Grand Fenwick lands on the moon before American and Russian astronauts.

Gloriana XII--The Original Wolf of Wall Street.

In this hilarious sequel to The Mouse That Roared, Grand Fenwick is at it again, this time upsetting the world's economy. The tiny country's secret weapon this time is its Grand Pinot chewing gum. When sales boom during an anti-smoking campaign, Grand Fenwick's investment is suddenly worth millions.

In an attempt to rid Grand Fenwick of its crippling budget surplus, Duchess Gloriana XII decides the stock market is the perfect place to lose it all. Instead, she makes millions more and ends up wreaking havoc on the world economy.

Never has "the money game" been more deliciously exposed than in this ingenious satire.

The fourth book in the bestselling The Mouse That Roared series brings the Duchy of Grand Fenwick's most extraordinary achievement yet--the defeat of OPEC and the happy solution to the world's oil crisis, which came about through the best that international diplomacy has to offer: duplicity and dumb luck.

It all began when the Count of Mountjoy, the prime minister of Grand Fenwick, was unable to get a hot bath because of the fuel shortage...

A prequel to the bestselling classic The Mouse That Roared.

Set in the year 1450, the tiny Duchy of Grand Fenwick, ruled by the benevolent and noble Sir Roger and armed with its army of expert longbowmen, had existed peacefully without threat of invasion for decades. But when a rascally Irish Knight stumbles across its borders with news that the French were set to attack and that they had a new weapon of mass destruction called "the cannon," the Irishman and Sir Roger must find a way to drop their differences and fight together, a feat made even more difficult when Sir Roger's daughter, the Lady Matilda becomes unduly enamored in the Irish newcomer.

THE VRIL ARE HERE. THE WAR FOR HUMANITY HAS BEGUN

The Germans have lost control of their most deadly discovery. The alien Vril have awakened and are scouring the Earth for ancient relics.

From the Hollywood lights of LA to the bloody devastation of Stalingrad, Major Guy Pentecross and the team at Station Z must uncover the mystery and stop the Vril and Nazis alike.

Failure will mean the end of life as we know it.

This short story originally appeared in Lightspeed, April 2014. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Military SF & Space Opera: First Annual Edition (2015), edited by David Afsharirad.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

This stort story in Nagata's The Red series originally appeaared in Lightspeed, May 2012. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirtieth Annual Collection (2013), edited by Gardner Dozois.

Read the full story for free at Lightspteed.

There Needs To Be A War Going On Somewhere.

Lieutenant James Shelley commands a high-tech squad of soldiers in a rural district within the African Sahel. They hunt insurgents each night on a harrowing patrol, guided by three simple goals: protect civilians, kill the enemy, and stay alive - because in a for-profit war manufactured by the defense industry there can be no cause worth dying for. To keep his soldiers safe, Shelley uses every high-tech asset available to him - but his best weapon is a flawless sense of imminent danger... as if God is with him, whispering warnings in his ear.

In the wake of nuclear terrorism, a squad of elite soldiers must combat artificial intelligence and seek justice in this military political thriller, a sequel to The Red: First Light.

Lieutenant James Shelley and his squad of US Army soldiers were on a quest for justice when they carried out the unauthorized mission known as First Light. They returned home to America to face a court-martial, determined to expose the corruption in the chain of command that compelled their actions. But in a country still reeling from the nuclear terrorism of Coma Day, the courtroom is just one battlefield of many.

A new cycle of violence ignites when rumors of the elusive, rogue AI known as the Red go public - and Shelley is, once again, pulled into the fray. Challenged by his enemies, driven by ideals, Shelley feels compelled to act. But are the harrowing choices he makes really his own, or are they made for him, by the Red? And with millions of lives at stake in a game of nuclear cat-and-mouse, does the answer even matter?

In the third book in The Red Trilogy, former Army Lt. James Shelley becomes a black ops sniper working for the Red--a suspected rogue artificial intelligence that is ripped from today's headlines.

James Shelley has left his lover, Delphi, and his companion-in-arms, Jayne Vasquez, with a fortune acquired from a fallen oligarch. They believe him to be dead, and he doesn't try to set the record straight. His long-running question has been answered: There are other soldiers like him who have served the purposes of the Red--and he has accepted his place among them. As a soldier of the Red he pursues covert missions designed to nudge history away from existential threats--but that doesn't mean the world is growing more orderly. It's only in the froth of a "managed chaos" that human potential can grow and thrive. Shelley's missions eventually take him into orbit--and into conflict with those he loves--Delphi and Jaynie--who are determined to escape the influence of the Red.

Hailed as "epic fantasy on a George R. R. Martin scale, but on speed" (Fixed on Fantasy), the Broken Empire trilogy introduced a bold new world of dark fantasy with the story of Jorg Ancrath's devastating rise to power. Now, Mark Lawrence returns to the Broken Empire with the tale of a less ambitious prince...

The Red Queen is old but the kings of the Broken Empire dread her like no other. For all her reign, she has fought the long war, contested in secret, against the powers that stand behind nations, for higher stakes than land or gold. Her greatest weapon is The Silent Sister-unseen by most and unspoken of by all.

The Red Queen's grandson, Prince Jalan Kendeth-drinker, gambler, seducer of women-is one who can see The Silent Sister. Tenth in line for the throne and content with his role as a minor royal, he pretends that the hideous crone is not there. But war is coming. Witnesses claim an undead army is on the march, and the Red Queen has called on her family to defend the realm. Jal thinks it's all a rumor-nothing that will affect him-but he is wrong.

After escaping a death trap set by the Silent Sister, Jal finds his fate magically intertwined with a fierce Norse warrior. As the two undertake a journey across the Empire to undo the spell, encountering grave dangers, willing women, and an upstart prince named Jorg Ancrath along the way, Jalan gradually catches a glimmer of the truth: he and the Norseman are but pieces in a game, part of a series of moves in the long war-and the Red Queen controls the board.

After harrowing adventure and near-death, Prince Jalan Kendeth and the Viking Snorri ver Snagason find themselves in possession of Loki's Key, an artefact capable of opening any door, and sought by the most dangerous beings in the Broken Empire--including The Dead King.

Jal wants only to return home to his wine, women, and song, but Snorri has his own purpose for the key: to find the very door into death, throw it wide, and bring his family back into the land of the living.

And as Snorri prepares for his quest to find death's door, Jal's grandmother, the Red Queen continues to manipulate kings and pawns towards an endgame of her own design...

From the critically-acclaimed author of PRINCE OF FOOLS comes the third volume of the brilliant new epic fantasy series, THE RED QUEEN'S WAR.

All the horrors of Hell stand between Snorri Ver Snagason and the rescue of his family, if indeed the dead can be rescued.

For Jalan Kendeth getting back out alive and with Loki's Key is all that matters. Loki's creation can open any lock, any door, and it may also be the key to Jal's fortune back in the living world.

Jal plans to return to the three Ws that have been the core of his idle and debauched life: wine, women, and wagering. Fate however has other, larger, plans...

The Wheel of Osheim is turning ever faster and it will crack the world unless it's stopped. When the end of all things looms, and there's nowhere to run, even the worst coward must find new answers.

Jal and Snorri face many dangers -- from the corpse-hordes of the Dead King to the many mirrors of the Lady Blue; but in the end, fast or slow, the Wheel of Osheim will exert its power.

In the end it's win or die.

Raine is seventeen-years-old and still on the run. She can see the dead, a secret that could get her killed. Seeking refuge with a deluded cult is her latest bad decision but rescuing an injured woman in the snow is soon revealed to be a horrific mistake. Hazia endangers not just Raine, but the whole world: she's escaped from Redwinter, fortress-monastery of the Draoihn, the warrior magicians who answer to no king or queen of the land, but to their own Grand Master. They will stop at nothing to retrieve what she's stolen.

Raine must survive by her wits, and her skill with a bow in a world turned upside down. A battle, a betrayal and a horrific revelation finds her herself inside Redwinter, where anyone caught communing with ghosts is put to death. As conspirators plot to release an ancient enemy, Raine's ability to see the dead might be their only hope, but to use her power would see her condemned.

The power of the Sixth Gate grows stronger within Raine each day--to control it, she needs lessons no living Draoihn can teach her. Her fledgling friendships are tested to a breaking point as she tries to face what she has become, and her master Ulovar is struck by a mysterious sickness that slowly saps the vitality from his body, leaving Raine to face her growing darkness alone. There's only one chance to turn the tide of power surging within her--to learn the secrets the Draoihn themselves purged from the world.

The book can teach her. She doesn't know where she found it, or when exactly, but its ever changing pages whisper power that has lain untouched for centuries.

As the king's health fails and the north suffers in the grip of famine, rebellious lords hunger for the power of the Crown, backed by powers that would see the Crowns undone. Amidst this growing threat, Raine's former friend Ovitus brings a powerful new alliance, raising his status and power of his own. He professes support for the heir to the throne even as others would see him take it for himself, and desperately craves Raine's forgiveness--or her submission.

But the grandmaster has her own plans for Raine, and the deadly training she has been given has not been conducted carelessly. In Raine she seeks to craft a weapon to launch right into her enemy's heart, as Redwinter seeks to hold onto power.

Amidst threats old and new, Raine must learn the secrets promised by the book, magic promised by a queen with a crown of feathers. A queen to whom Raine has promised more than she can afford to give...

Having been saved from execution at the hands of the Draoihn - powerful magic users Raine used to count as allies - Raine finds herself in the Fault, a vast magical wasteland, which is falling apart before her eyes.

Alongside her two closest companions, they are searching for the only person Raine believes can help them get back home: the enigmatic and infuriatingly elusive Queen of Feathers.

But what home are they trying to get back to? Ovitus LacNaithe, power-hungry traitor that he is, has taken control of the Draoihn and is unwittingly doing the bidding of a darker master. He is soon to take control of the Crown of Harranir and plunge the land into unending darkness.

Mirae was meant to save her queendom, but the ceremony before her coronation ends in terror and death, unlocking a strange new power within her and foretelling the return of a monster even the gods fear. Amid the chaos, Mirae's beloved older brother is taken--threatening the peninsula's already tenuous truce.

Desperate to save her brother and defeat this ancient enemy before the queendom is beset by war, Mirae sets out on a journey with an unlikely group of companions while her unpredictable magic gives her terrifying visions of a future she must stop at any cost.

Myke Cole, star of CBS's Hunted and author of the Shadow Ops series, debuts the Sacred Throne epic fantasy trilogy with The Armored Saint, a story of religious tyrants, arcane war-machines, and underground resistance that will enthrall epic fantasy readers of all ages.

In a world where any act of magic could open a portal to hell, the Order insures that no wizard will live to summon devils, and will kill as many innocent people as they must to prevent that greater horror. After witnessing a horrendous slaughter, the village girl Heloise opposes the Order, and risks bringing their wrath down on herself, her family, and her village.

In this epic fantasy sequel, Heloise stands tall against overwhelming odds--crippling injuries, religious tyrants--and continues her journey from obscurity to greatness with the help of alchemically-empowered armor and an unbreakable spirit.

No longer just a shell-shocked girl, she is now a figure of revolution whose cause grows ever stronger. But the time for hiding underground is over. Heloise must face the tyrannical Order and win freedom for her people.

Heloise and her allies are marching on the Imperial Capital. The villagers, the Kipti, and the Red Lords are united only in their loyalty to Heloise, though dissenting voices are many and they are loud.

The unstable alliance faces internal conflicts and external strife, yet they're united in their common goal. But when the first of the devils start pouring through a rent in the veil between worlds, Heloise must strike a bargain with an unlikely ally, or doom her people to death and her world to ruin.

When a one-way time tunnel to Earth's distant past, specifically six million B.C., was discovered by folks on the Galactic Milieu, every misfit for light-years around hurried to pass through it. Each sought his own brand of happiness. But none could have guessed what awaited them. Not even in a million years....

When dragons rage, chaos reigns.

Conquest built the Celes Basin, now enemies once more threaten its borders. But when the Lord Reacher declares himself supreme ruler to enforce unity, old angers erupt, threatening to tear the basin apart from within.

Tesha, a glassblower's apprentice with a talent for poisonwork, becomes a false tribute bride as part of a desperate political plot. In the Reacher's court, she's perfectly placed to sabotage him, but her heart has other plans.

Naili is laundress to an eccentric alchemist, a job that has left her with strange new abilities that are slowly consuming her--and attracting the notice of the city's underground rulers. With time running out, she'll have to gain power by any means just to survive, let alone change the world.

And in the desolate Shield Mountains, sharp-shooting dragon rider Ashadi protects the basin from the monsters of The Sands beyond, but when an impossible shot pierces his dragon's glass scales, he becomes the hunted one.

As chaos sweeps across the land, Tesha, Naili, and Ashadi must fight to survive political enemies, long-buried secrets, and monsters both within and without.

Dev is a smuggler with the perfect cover.  He's in high demand as a guide for the caravans that carry legitimate goods from the city of Ninavel into the country of Alathia. The route through the Whitefire Mountains is treacherous, and Dev is one of the few climbers who knows how to cross them safely. With his skill and connections, it's easy enough to slip contraband charms from Ninavel - where any magic is fair game, no matter how dark - into Alathia, where most magic is outlawed.

But smuggling a few charms is one thing; smuggling a person through the warded Alathian border is near suicidal.  Having made a promise to a dying friend, Dev is forced to take on a singularly dangerous cargo: Kiran. A young apprentice on the run from one of the most powerful mages in Ninavel, Kiran is desperate enough to pay a fortune to sneak into a country where discovery means certain execution - and he'll do whatever it takes to prevent Dev from finding out the terrible truth behind his getaway.

Yet Kiran isn't the only one harboring a deadly secret. Caught up in a web of subterfuge and dark magic, Dev and Kiran must find a way to trust each other - or face not only their own destruction, but that of the entire city of Ninavel.

Dev is a desperate man. After narrowly surviving a smuggling job gone wrong, he’s now a prisoner of the Alathian Council, held hostage to ensure his friend Kiran — former apprentice to one of the most ruthless mages alive — does their bidding.

But Kiran isn’t Dev’s only concern. Back in his home city of Ninavel, the child he once swore to protect faces a terrible fate if he can’t reach her in time, and the days are fast slipping away. So when the Council offers Dev freedom in exchange for his and Kiran’s assistance in a clandestine mission to Ninavel, he can’t refuse, no matter how much he distrusts their motives.

Once in Ninavel the mission proves more treacherous than even Dev could have imagined. Betrayed by allies, forced to aid their enemies, he and Kiran must confront the darkest truths of their pasts if they hope to save those they love and survive their return to the Tainted City.

Dev's never been a man afraid of a challenge. Not only has he kept his vow to his dead mentor, rescuing a child in the face of impossible odds, but he's freed his mage friend Kiran from both the sadistic master who seeks to enslave him and the foreign Council that wants to kill him.

But Kiran's master Ruslan is planning a brutal revenge, one that will raze an entire country to blood and ashes. Kiran is the key to stopping Ruslan; yet Kiran is dying by inches, victim of the Alathian Council's attempt to chain him. Worse yet, Dev and Kiran have drawn the attention of demons from the darkest of ancient legends. Demons whose power Dev knows is all too real, and that he has every reason to fear.

A fear that grows, as he and Kiran struggle to outmaneuver Ruslan and uncover the secrets locked in Kiran's forgotten childhood. For the demons are playing their own deadly game--and the price of survival may be too terrible to bear.

Djaga Akoyo left the grasslands of her homeland long ago and rose to prominence in Sharakhai's fighting pits as the famed Lion of Kundhun. What Djaga revealed to no one, however, is the terrible secret that drove her to leave Kundhun in the first place. That secret is brought back to the fore when her sister tribeswoman, Afua, comes to Sharakhai unannounced and threatens to reveal her shameful past, a thing that would upend the life Djaga has worked so hard to build for herself.

Djaga and Afua's pasts are linked. Afua tells her that with one final bout in the killing pits, both their demons will be excised. But Djaga has more to worry about than Afua's demons, or even her own. She has Nadín as well, a woman she hopes to share a life with once she's left the pits for good. But how can she start a new life with Nadín when the terrible acts she committed in her homeland still haunt her?

Djaga must decide once and for all whether she'll face them, but in doing so she may lose the one she loves.

Street urchins have been turning up missing in the great desert city of Sharakhai. Few care, until the son of one of the city's richest patrons goes missing as well. The apothecary named Dardzada wants nothing to do with it, but his shrewd mind and skills as an apothecary make him indispensable to his cruel half-brother Layth, the captain of the guard tasked with solving the mystery. When Layth insists he look deeper into the kidnappings, Dardzada is drawn into a struggle much larger than he ever anticipated, and he realizes it will take all his wits to get himself out again.

Çeda is the youngest pit fighter in the history of the great desert city of Sharakhai. In this brilliant new story, a prequel to Twelve Kings, she has already made her name in the arena as the fearsome, undefeated White Wolf. None but her closest friends and allies know her true identity.

But this all changes when she crosses the path of Rümayesh, one of the sadistic creatures known as ehrekh which were forged long ago by the god of chaos. They are usually desert dwellers, but this one lurks in the dark corners of Sharakhai, toying with and preying on humans. As Rümayesh works to unmask the White Wolf and claim Çeda for her own, Çeda's struggle becomes a battle for her friends, her life, and her very soul.

In the western reaches of the Great Shangazi Desert, the long-distance horse race known as Annam's Traverse is about to begin. All is thrown in doubt, however, when Sukru the Reaping King arrives unannounced from Sharakhai and puts forth a champion of his own. For a young woman named Leorah, the more important matter is the fabled amethyst ring offered up as a prize. She knows of the ring, and becomes obsessed with winning the race. This horrifies her twin sister, Devorah, who knows more of the ring's secrets than Leorah, and is desperate to hide them from the Reaping King. As the race unfolds, and King Sukru's champion comes closer and closer to winning the prize, Devorah stumbles upon a secret that puts not only the ring's future in doubt, but her sister's as well.

Mala is a street thief with a knack for manipulating shadow. When the city's garrison is left empty after a terrible battle, the leader of Mala's gang decides to steal from it. Larger gangs might steer clear, fearing retribution from the Silver Spears, but Mala's crew is young and foolhardy, and the potential score is simply too big to pass up.

After using her talents to steal into the garrison, Mala stumbles across Shohreh, an injured woman wearing a blood-red battle dress. Shohreh is a Kestrel, one of the elite swordswomen who serve the twelve kings of Sharakhai. Knowing Shohreh will be killed the moment the others learn of her, Mala helps her to escape through a secret door and into the city's catacombs.

Near death, Shohreh is healed by the Crone, a near-mythical figure in Sharakhai and the leader of the Kestrels. After revealing a plot to kill Zeheb the Whisper King, the Crone commands Shohreh to save him and to kill Mala for having learned the location of their underground lair. What follows is a deadly game that threatens not only the Whisper King but Mala and everyone she knows.

Brama was once a thief who dreamed of riches. Now he's the Torn Man, a broken soul who could have all the riches he wants, except he no longer yearns for it. He's chosen instead to live in the poorest quarter of Sharakhai with the very creature who tortured him mercilessly, a powerful ehrekh known as Rümayesh. Brama's life changes forever when he stumbles across a woman named Jax, an intriguing young foreigner fleeing assassins from her homeland. Brama has feared to use Rümayesh's power, but asks her now to help save Jax from her fate. Rümayesh, who seems curiously fascinated by Jax, agrees. Brama has little time to wonder over Rümayesh's sudden and unexpected interest, for his fate soon becomes entangled with Jax's. As a drug lord learns of Brama's sapphire, and the assassins close in, Brama fights to save Jax, preventing him from focusing on what may be the biggest threat of all: Rümayesh herself.

Sharakhai, the great city of the desert, center of commerce and culture, has been ruled from time immemorial by twelve kings -- cruel, ruthless, powerful, and immortal. With their army of Silver Spears, their elite ompany of Blade Maidens and their holy defenders, the terrifying asirim, the Kings uphold their positions as undisputed, invincible lords of the desert. There is no hope of freedom for any under their rule.

Or so it seems, until Çeda, a brave young woman from the west end slums, defies the Kings' laws by going outside on the holy night of Beht Zha'ir. What she learns that night sets her on a path that winds through both the terrible truths of the Kings' mysterious history and the hidden riddles of her own heritage. Together, these secrets could finally break the iron grip of the Kings' power... if the nigh-omnipotent Kings don't find her first.

Çeda, now a Blade Maiden in service to the kings of Sharakhai, trains as one of their elite warriors, gleaning secrets even as they send her on covert missions to further their rule. She knows the dark history of the asirim -- that hundreds of years ago they were enslaved to the kings against their will -- but when she bonds with them as a Maiden, chaining them to her, she feels their pain as if her own. They hunger for release, they demand it, but with the power of the gods compelling them, they find their chains unbreakable.

Çeda could become the champion they've been waiting for, but the need to tread carefully has never been greater. After their recent defeat at the hands of the rebel Moonless Host, the kings are hungry for blood, scouring the city in their ruthless quest for revenge. Çeda's friend Emre and his new allies in the Moonless Host hope to take advantage of the unrest in Sharakhai, despite the danger of opposing the kings and their god-given powers, and the Maidens and their deadly ebon blades.

When Çeda and Emre are drawn into a plot of the blood mage Hamzakiir, they learn a devastating secret that may very well shatter the power of the hated kings. But it may all be undone if Çeda cannot learn to navigate the shifting tides of power in Sharakhai and control the growing anger of the asirim that threatens to overwhelm her...

Since the Night of Endless Swords, a bloody battle the Kings of Sharakhai narrowly won, the kings have been hounding the rebels known as the Moonless Host. Many have been forced to flee the city, including Çeda, who discovers that the King of Sloth is raising his army to challenge the other kings' rule.

When Çeda finds the remaining members of the Moonless Host, now known as the thirteenth tribe, she sees a tenuous existence. Çeda hatches a plan to return to Sharakhai and free the asirim, the kings' powerful, immortal slaves. The kings, however, have sent their greatest tactician, the King of Swords, to bring Çeda to justice for her crimes.

But the once-unified front of the kings is crumbling. The surviving kings vie quietly against one another, maneuvering for control over Sharakhai. Çeda hopes to use that to her advantage, but whom to trust? Any of them might betray her.

As Çeda works to lift the shackles from the asirim and save the thirteenth tribe, the kings of Sharakhai, the scheming queen of Qaimir, the ruthless blood mage, Hamzakiir, and King of Swords all prepare for a grand clash that may decide the fate of all.

When a battle to eradicate the Thirteenth Tribe goes awry, the kingdoms bordering the desert metropolis of Sharakhai see the city as weak and ripe for conquest. Çeda, now leader of the Shieldwives, a band of skilled desert swordswomen, hopes to use the growing chaos to gain freedom for Sehid-Alaz, the ancient, undying king of her people. Freeing him is only the beginning, however. Like all the people of her tribe on that fateful night four centuries earlier, Sehid-Alaz was cursed, turned into an asir, a twisted, miserable creature beholden to the kings of Sharakhai -- to truly free her king, Çeda must break the chains that bind him.

As Sharakhai's enemies close in and the assault on the city begins, Çeda works feverishly to unlock the mysteries of the asirim's curse. But danger lies everywhere. Enemy forces roam the city; the Blade Maidens close in on her; her own father, one of the kings of Sharakhai, wants Çeda to hang. Worst of all, the gods themselves have begun to take notice of Çeda's pursuits.

When the combined might of Sharakhai and the desert gods corner the survivors of the Thirteenth Tribe in a mountain fastness, the very place that nearly saw their annihilation centuries ago, Çeda knows the time has come. She was once an elite warrior in service to the kings of Sharakhai. She has been an assassin in dark places. A weapon poised to strike from the shadows. A voice from the darkness, striving to free her people.

No longer.

Now she's going to lead.

The age of the Kings is coming to an end...

The reign of the kings of Sharakhai has been broken. The blood mage, Queen Meryam, now rules the city along with the descendants of the fabled twelve kings.

In the desert, Çeda has succeeded in breaking the asirim's curse. Those twisted creatures are now free, but their freedom comes at great cost. Nalamae lies dead, slain in battle with her sister goddess. Çeda, knowing Nalamae would have been reborn on her death, sets out on a quest to find her.

The trail leads Çeda to Sharakhai where, unbeknownst to her, others are searching for Nalamae as well. Çeda's quest to find her forces her into a terrible decision: work with the kings or risk Sharakhai's destruction.

Whatever her decision, it won't be easy. Sharakhai is once more threatened by the forces of the neighboring kingdoms. As the powers of the desert vie for control of the city, Çeda, her allies, and the fallen kings must navigate the shifting fates before the city they love falls to the schemes of the desert gods.

The plans of the desert gods are coming to fruition. Meryam, the deposed queen of Qaimir, hopes to raise the buried elder god, Ashael, an event that would bring ruin to the desert.

Çeda and Emre sail for their ancestral home to bring the traitor, Hamid, to justice. To their horror, they discover that the desert tribes have united under Hamid's banner. Their plan? A holy crusade to annihilate Sharakhai, a thing long sought by many in the tribes. In Sharakhai, meanwhile, the blood mage, Davud, examines the strange gateway between worlds, hoping to find a way to close it. And King Ihsan hunts for Meryam, but always finds himself two steps behind.

When Meryam raises Ashael, all know the end is near. Ashael means to journey to the land that was denied to him an age ago, no matter the cost to the desert. It now falls to Çeda and her unlikely assortment of allies to find a way to unite not only the desert tribes and the people of Sharakhai, but the city's invaders as well. Even if they do, stopping Ashael will cost them dearly, perhaps more than all are willing to pay.

War has its cost, and the Servants of the Bright Heart and the Servants of the Dark Heart have been locked in a struggle that has defined life--and death--for millennia. But the end is coming, and only the Lady who has served the Bright Heart for the whole of her immortal life has seen it, in a vision that spans time and demands the highest of prices.

Erin is a healer, and against the nature of her birthright she has learned to wield a sword and use it to bring death to the enemies of her people. Scarred by the losses that war always demands, she is the chosen champion of Light and the enemy of darkness.

But no magical sword or simple quest awaits Erin. Her journey and her doom lie in the Dark Heart's stronghold, and in the hands of her people's greatest enemy.

Continuing the struggle she began in Into the Dark Lands, Erin--newly dubbed Sara--is forcefully put to sleep for 300 years while her Lord finishes overtaking his enemies--and Sara's kinsmen.

After conquering and slaughtering the last of the Bright Heart lines, he awakens an amnesia-ridden Sara and assigns one of his slaves, a fellow "child of the blood," to comfort her. As Sara's memory slowly returns and her rage intensifies, the Servants of the Dark Heart and the Dark Heart itself become increasingly dangerous to both her and her caretaker.

The harrowing tale of Erin of Elliath, warrior and healer, continues in this episode of the battle between good and evil. When Erin rejects her position as Lady Sara, wife to the First Servant of the Dark Heart, she escapes from her husband's realm with the help of Darin, the Patriarch of Culverne and the last of his line. After combining forces with the deposed prince of Marantine and a mysterious old man?who has magic skills that neither Erin or Darin can identify?the foursome hatch a plan to wrestle control of the usurped kingdom of Marantine away from the priests of the Dark Heart. Meanwhile, Erin continues to struggle with her part in the betrayal of her people, the deaths of her most beloved friends, as well as her feelings for the man who doomed them for her sake.

After a fierce battle, Erin of Elliath and her comrades have brought hope back to the Servants of the Bright Heart. The throne of Marantine has been reclaimed, and a new king rules the last remnants of Lernan's people.

Within the lands of the Dark Empire, however, the power of the Bright Heart grows dim. The last stronghold of the Light, the well of Lernan's power, is quickly draining in the shadow of the inexorable forces of Darkness. The High Priests compete for supremacy, and even the nobility of the Dark Empire has begun to feel the burden of their never-ending war. The First of the Sundered, Lord Stefanos, has returned, once again walking the night and devouring the innocent in mourning for his lost beloved--Lady Sara, Erin of Elliath.

Erin is determined to free the Light and release her long-dead friends from the purgatory of the Dark Heart. She must once more journey into the heart of the Dark Lands to confront the legacy of Lady Sara and the inevitable destiny of the lines, forcing her toward a final confrontation with her most formidable and ancient enemy--the man she loves.

Twenty eight florins a month is a huge price to pay, for a man to stand between you and the Wild. Twenty eight florins a month is nowhere near enough when a wyvern's jaws snap shut on your helmet in the hot stink of battle, and the beast starts to rip the head from your shoulders. But if standing and fighting is hard, leading a company of men - or worse, a company of mercenaries - against the smart, deadly creatures of the Wild is even harder. It takes all the advantages of birth, training, and the luck of the devil to do it. The Red Knight has all three, he has youth on his side, and he's determined to turn a profit. So when he hires his company out to protect an Abbess and her nunnery, it's just another job. The abby is rich, the nuns are pretty and the monster preying on them is nothing he can't deal with.Only it's not just a job. It's going to be a war. . .

The gods, makers of worlds, seek to create balance-between matter and energy; and between mortals who strive toward the transcendent, and the natural perils they must tame or overcome. But one of the gods fashions a world filled with hellish creatures far too powerful to allow balance; he is condemned to live for eternity with his most hateful creations in that world's distant Bourne, restrained by a magical veil kept vital by the power of song.

Millennia pass, awareness of the hidden danger fades to legend, and both song and veil weaken. And the most remote cities are laid waste by fell, nightmarish troops escaped from the Bourne. Some people dismiss the attacks as mere rumor. Instead of standing against the real threat, they persecute those with the knowledge, magic and power to fight these abominations, denying the inevitability of war and annihilation. And the evil from the Bourne swells....

The troubles of the world seem far from the Hollows where Tahn Junell struggles to remember his lost childhood and to understand words he feels compelled to utter each time he draws his bow. Trouble arrives when two strangers-an enigmatic man wearing the sigil of the feared Order of Sheason and a beautiful woman of the legendary Far-come, to take Tahn, his sister and his two best friends on a dangerous, secret journey.

Tahn knows neither why nor where they will go. He knows only that terrible forces have been unleashed upon mankind and he has been called to stand up and face that which most daunts him-his own forgotten secrets and the darkness that would destroy him and his world.

An island nation has vanished. Men of honor and magic have died unnatural deaths. Slaves flee in terror. . . . Are the silent gods beginning to speak? Or is another force at work in the Lands Vin?

Laura Anne Gilman’s critically acclaimed, Nebula Award–nominated Flesh and Fire introduced a brilliantly imagined world where the grapevine—cultivated by the Vinearts who know the secrets of wine magic—holds together disparate lands. Now, confusion, violence, and terror are sweeping over the Lands Vin. And four people are at the center of a storm.

Jerzy, Vineart apprentice and former slave, was sent by his master to investigate strange happenings—and found himself the target of betrayal. Now he must set out on his own journey, to find the source of the foul taint that threatens to destroy everything he holds dear. By Jerzy’s side are Ao, who lives for commerce and the art of the deal; Mahault, stoic and wise, risking death in flight from her homeland; and Kaïnam, once Named-Heir of an island principality, whose father has fallen into a magic-tangled madness that endangers them all.

These four companions will travel far from the earth and the soul of the vine, sailing along coastlines aflame with fear, confronting sea creatures summoned by darkness, and following winds imbued with malice. Their journey will take them to the very limits of the Sin Washer’s reach . . . And into a battle for the soul of the Lands Vin. For two millennia the Sin Washer’s Commandment has kept these lands in order: Those of magic shall hold no power over men and those princes of power shall hold no magic. Now, that law has given way. And a hidden force seeks the havoc of revenge.

Three years after her famous husband's death, Cordelia Vorkosigan, widowed Vicereine of Sergyar, stands ready to spin her life in a new direction. Oliver Jole, Admiral, Sergyar Fleet, finds himself caught up in her web of plans in ways he'd never imagined, bringing him to an unexpected crossroads in his career.

Meanwhile, Miles Vorkosigan, one of Emperor Gregor's key investigators, this time dispatches himself on a mission of inquiry, into a mystery he never anticipated - his own mother.

Plans, wills, and expectations collide in this sparkling science-fiction social comedy, as the impact of galactic technology on the range of the possible changes all the old rules, and Miles learns that not only is the future not what he expects, neither is the past.

The land of Tencendor has been united for more than forty years, thanks to Axis, who is the legendary Starman. He defeated Gorgrael and brought peace to the three races--and upon fulfilling his destiny, Axis and his consort Azhure retired to the ethereal sphere in the heavens, and ceded his authority to their son Caelum.

But the path of the son is not necessarily that of the father. Caelum is untried and has known nothing but peace during his lifetime. And while the three races seem to be at peace, there are undercurrents of jealousy and bitter memories buried just beneath the surface.

So when strange powers begin to manifest in their world, and threaten the destruction of all he holds dear, Caelum will have to find the strength to fight this threat--and to fight his mortal brother Drago, who is not as powerless as he appears to be. Something killed their sister, and Caelum knows Drago is the culprit--but the Supreme Ruler of the land must have proof, and Caelum has none.

Caelum desperately tries to juggle saving the world with proving his brother killed their sister, but time grows short and the demons are drawing near.

Enchanters and gods alike are helpless as the Timekeeper Demons lay waste to Tencendor.

There must be hope somewhere, but no-one knows where to find it. Caelum and his parents go to Star Finger, hoping to discover the mountain's ancient secrets. Zared tries to help his people, but loses that which he loves most to the appetites of the Timekeepers. Meanwhile, Faraday grows fearful, wondering if she will be trapped in her previous fate. Must she lose everything for this land.

Qeteb waits, as he has waited tens of thousands of years, for the StarSon... for revenge... for the hunt through the Maze. Death lurks in every twist of the Maze, but only those who have the courage to endure death can learn the secrets of the ancient Enemy.

For countless millennia the Star Dance and the TimeKeeper Demons have battled their way across the universe, destroying innumerable planets, and laying waste to civilizations across the cosmos. The forces that power the Star Dance have chosen Tencendor as the final battleground, and the people of Tencendor huddle in Sanctuary, a magical place created to shield all living things from the wrath of the monstrous Demons. Their only hope? The renegade DragonStar and his companions who will go forth to do battle.

But what DragonStar does not know is that there is a traitor who dwells within Sanctuary who is poised to open the haven to the Demons. And whose hatred for all that is good could undo the cosmos.

Trump Card

Reality wasn't what it used to be. Life after life, as man, woman, and child, Cory Maddox was trapped in an endless cycle of ever-changing realities, on the run from his ruthless companions and from the shadowy figures that seemed to exist outside the increasingly unstable matrix. As each new world proved increasingly bizarre, Cory wanted nothing more than to find the way home. Fragments of knowledge - a mysterious UFO crash, alien technology, glimpses of a computer that was controlling his fate - all pointed toward Matthew Brand, the virtual reality genius. But Brand had vanished long ago, into, or perhaps beyond, the borders of reality.

To break the cycle of cyber-reincarnation, Cory had to find Brand - before the actions of his enemies destroyed reality altogether....

What's a father to do with a son like Jamie? Good-hearted, hot-blooded, quick to make both friends and enemies, he is too much of a firebrand to stay at home. The King's heart almost broke when he banished his favorite son, but Jamie the Red's adventures were only beginning!

Table of Contents:

• 5 - The Dead of Winter - [Thieves' World - 7] - (1985) - anthology by Lynn Abbey and Robert Asprin [as by Lynn Abbey and Robert Lynn Asprin]
• 259 - Soul of the City - [Thieves' World - 8] - anthology by Lynn Abbey and Robert Asprin [as by Lynn Abbey and C. J. Cherryh and Janet Morris]
• 497 - Blood Ties - [Thieves' World - 9] - (1986) - anthology by Lynn Abbey and Robert Asprin [as by Lynn Abbey and Robert Lynn Asprin]

The War of Independence appears to have no end in sight. Discouraged by the bloodshed and suffering their magic can do nothing to prevent, Proctor and his wife, Deborah, dream of starting a family. But when Deborah gives birth, a powerful demon called Balfri, summoned by the secret society of European witches known as the Covenant, tries to possess the child. Though the attack in unsuccessful, it makes Proctor and Deborah realize that there can be no safety for them, or for anyone, until the Covenant is destroyed.

With the help of such patriots as Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, Proctor embarks on a desperate journey to take the fight to the heart of the Covenant's power: Europe. There he will uncover a dark, necromantic design of chillingly vast proportions. Meanwhile, back in America, Deborah will face Balfri again–only this time the demon will have the whole British army to command.

Captain Felix Duval and the crew of the Temerarious quietly patrol a remote Mentak Coalition colony system where nothing ever happens. But when they answer a distress call from a moon under attack, that peaceful existence is torn apart. They rescue a scientist, Thales, who's developing revolutionary technology to create new wormholes. He just needs a few things to make it fully operational... and now, ordered to aid the scientist, the Temerarious is targeted by two rival black-ops teams intent on reacquiring Thales. Can Felix trust Thales? Or is this a conspiracy to tip the balance of power in the galaxy forever?

Who--or what--cut the throat and took the ears of a sailor on the Black River? That's what District Marshall Ty Merrick and her partner are called in to find out before the red sun rises in the sky again--and something inhuman rises out of the river's toxic waters.

Granny Viper is a "people finder," a searcher for lost souls along the roads of a forbidding wasteland. Her latest mission: the safe return of a young woman named Tae, kidnapped eight years ago by vampire Nobility and held in Castle Gradinia on the Frontier's far border. But rescuing Tae is only half the battle--Viper knows she and the girl can't cross the formidable expanse to the town of Barnabas alone. After making the fatal mistake of hiring the mercenary Bullow Brothers to help her, Granny turns to the legendary Vampire Hunter D for salvation. As they traverse the bleak desert between the Inner and Outer Frontier, the two women and D find themselves in a race for their lives. And they soon discover how cruel the desert is--and how very ruthless the Bullow Brothers are...

An epic tale of freedom and slavery, love and war, and the potential futures of humankind tells of a twenty-first century California clan caught between two clashing worlds, one based on tolerance, the other on repression.

Fost Longstrider's mission seemed ordinary. He'd been hired to deliver a jug to a wizard on the far side of the forest. Unfortunately the jug contained a sex-starved genie, the wizard was dead by foul means, and Fost was probabley the next to die.

Then the genie was stolen and spirited away to the City in the Sky. It was up to Fost to steal it back from two beautiful sisters. They were fighting to become queen and, using dark powers, one had called forth a demon. Now Fost's foray was suddenly a terrible war.

Bloodthirsty vampire lord the Red Duke is resurrected from his ancient slumber to terrorise the lands of Bretonnia.

This short story originally appeared in Interzone, #236 September-October 2011. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 17 (2012), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer.

Life in the newly independent city state of Rosewater isn't everything its citizens were expecting...

Mayor Jacques finds that debts incurred during the insurrection are coming back to haunt him. Nigeria isn't willing to let Rosewater go without a fight. And among the city's alien inhabitants, a group has emerged who murder humans to provide bodies for their takeover.

Operating across spacetime, the xenosphere and international borders, it is up to a small group of hackers and criminals to prevent the extraterrestrial advance. The fugitive known as Bicycle Girl, Kaaro and his old handler Femi, may be humanity's last line of defence.

Short story set in de Bodard's Xuya universe. It was originally published in Subterranean Magazine, Spring 2014. I can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Second Annual Collection (2015), edited by Gardner Dozois and Warrior Women (2015) edited by Paula Guran.

Read the full story for free at Subterranean Magazine.

When tech scavenger Xích Si is captured and imprisoned by the infamous pirates of the Red Banner, she expects to be tortured or killed. Instead, their leader, Rice Fish, makes Xích Si an utterly incredible proposition: an offer of marriage.

Both have their reasons for this arrangement: Xích Si needs protection; Rice Fish, a sentient spaceship, needs a technical expert to investigate the death of her first wife, the Red Scholar. That's all there is to it.

But as the interstellar war against piracy rages on and their own investigation reaches a dire conclusion, the two of them discover that their arrangement has evolved into something much less business-focused and more personal... and tender. And maybe the best thing that's ever happened to either of them--but only if they can find a way to survive together.